ST. PAUL, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team headed to St. Paul looking for an upset Wednesday night in the MIAC Quarterfinals.
After falling to Hamline 3-1 during the regular season, the sixth-seeded Bennies pushed the No. 3 Pipers to five sets Wednesday, but fell 3-2 to end the 2021 season. Hamline – which is making its first MIAC Tournament appearance since 2013 – moves on to play second-seeded Bethel Friday night in Arden Hills in a MIAC semifinal. The Pipers won 19-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-14 and 15-9.
After trading runs early in the first set, Saint Benedict (7-14) went on a 6-0 run midway through the set to go up 19-16 thanks to a handful of Hamline attack errors and a kill from
Olivia Thompson. The Pipers stalled the rn, but the Bennies scored five of the last six points to pick up the win, and capped the set with kills from
Gabby Heying and
Madelyn Gregory.
The Pipers (20-7) led 14-6 early in the second set, and pushed that lead to 18-9 before two kills each from Gregory and Thompson got the Bennies within five, 19-14. Hamline responded with a 3-0 run of its own and held on for the second-set win.
The third set played out much like the first with both teams trading runs early, but after Hamline tied it at 20-20, the Bennies scored the final five points of the set for the win. Heying had two kills and Heying and Gregory had a block to end the set and put CSB up 2-1.
The Pipers had all the momentum early in the fourth set and were able to pull away for the win to tie the match at 2-2 and force a fifth and final set. The Bennies went up 7-4 thanks to a pair of kills from Thompson and two Hamline attack errors, but the Pipers came back with a 7-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. A kill from
Grace Holm stopped the run, but Hamline used the momentum to pull away for the win.
Thompson recorded a career-best 18 kills for the Bennies, who had 52 total kills. She Heying added 14 kills and Gregory finished with seven.
Audrey Spolidoro improved her career-high one last time as a first year with 45 assists, and senior libero
Mary Wenisch led the defense with 22 digs. Heying added 15 digs and Gregory led the way with four block assists.
Sydney Larson had 13 kills for Hamline, which had 54 total kills, and Rachel Rettman had seven block assists. The Pipers finished with 15 total blocks. Megan Rubbelke had 36 assists and 19 digs and Jenna Rubbelke led the team with 20 digs.
Wednesday's game wraps up the season for the young Bennie squad. CSB graduates just one senior in Wenisch and returns plenty of talent from the 2021 roster.
