ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team and Augsburg played a very evenly matched game Wednesday night, but timely hits and big plays helped the Bennies come away with a big MIAC win.
CSB held on for the win thanks to scores of 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21 Wednesday in Claire Lynch to improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in MIAC play. The loss marked the first of the season for the Auggies, who are 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the league.
A trio of kills form
Hunter Weiss and a service ace from
Bridget McDonald helped CSB jump to an 8-3 lead early, but the Auggies made a slow comeback and got within three several times, including 15-12. A kill from
Katie Koch and a service ace for
Maurissa Isaacs pushed the Bennies' lead to 18-12, but Augsburg ralled to get within 20-18, and then 22-20. An Augsburg service error and service ace for
Mackenzie McDonald put CSB up 24-20, but Augsburg scored the next three points before an Auggie attack error gave CSB the two-point win.
Neither team led by more than three points in the second set. Another service ace from Mackenzie and kills from Weiss and
Paige Andries gave the Bennies an early lead, but Augsburg rallied to regain a 9-7 lead. Kills from
Emma Guest and
Madison Weiss and a pair of kills from Hunter pushed CSB's lead to 14-11, but the Auggies rallied again before a pair of kills from Andries gave CSB an 18-16 lead.
A service ace from Koch made it 21-18 CSB late, but the Auggies got within 23-21 before
Gabby Heying had two kills to end the match.
The third set went back and forth in the early going, and CSB took the biggest lead of the set at 14-11 thanks to back-to-back service aces from Bridget. The Auggies tied the game at 14-14 and took a 17-16 lead, but two Auggie attack errors and a big block from Hunter and Madison, followed by a kill from Hunter, made it 20-17 in CSB's favor. Kills from Madison and Heying made it 22-18, and a kill from Andries ended the set and the match.
Hunter and Madison both finished with 10 kills to lead CSB offense, and Hunter finished the night hitting .667 with no errors. Madison is just five kills away from the 1,000-kill milestone as she has 995 after Wednesday's match. Koch finished with 34 assists and eight digs, and
Mackenzie McDonald led the defense with 14 digs. Both Weiss twins had a pair of block assists for CSB, which hit .273 as a team.
Jade Boysen led all hitters with 14 kills for Augsburg, which hit .317. Lexie Lang had 21 assists and Mikayla Coops and Maddie Nierengarten both finished with nine digs.
CSB is off now until Wednesday, April 7, when it hosts St. Olaf at 7 p.m. in Claire Lynch. The April 7 match is one of just two remaining home games currently on the schedule for the Bennies in this shortened season.
