RIVER FALLS, Wis. – After hanging so close with some solid teams and falling just short, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team picked up a tough win over UW-River Falls Saturday afternoon to wrap up nonconference play for the season.
The Bennies (2-8) took a 2-0 lead on the Falcons (8-9), and held on to win 3-1 in River Falls, Wis.
CSB started the first set strong and hit .311 as a team with 20 kills as it held on for a 28-26 win. The Bennies went up 2-0 after winning the second set 25-23 before the Falcons took the third set 25-16. CSB came ot on top thanks to a 25-21 win in the fourth and final set.
After a back-and-forth first set, UWRF took a 26-25 lead, but
Madelyn Gregory had a pair of kills and
Mary Wenisch added a kill from the back row to help the Bennies hold on for the win. Set two was just as close with the two teams trading runs until the final points of the game. The Falcons took a 22-20 lead, but coming out of a CSB timeout
Grace Holm and
McKenzie Galvin both had kills and UWRF had an error to make it 23-22 in CSB's favor, and
Audrey Spolidoro and another Falcon attack error gave CSB the win.
River Falls sored the final five points of the third set to take the win, and went up 11-8 early in the fourth, but the Bennies chipped away at the lead. A
Gabby Heying service ace and a kill from Holm tied the set at 17-17, and once again CSB scored the final three points of the set thanks to kills from Heying, Holm and
Sophie Kobienia to end the match.
Heying paced the Bennies with 12 kills and Kobienia added eight for CSB, which hit .174 as a team. Holm had two solo blocks and three assists, and both
Payton Marker and Spolidoro had 14 assists. Wenisch led the defense with 17 digs and Heying added a career-high 16 digs.
Sami Hilley and Kameri Meredith each had 14 kills for the Falcons, which hit .180. Haley Cuba had 40 assists and Brooke Voigt had 21 digs.
The Bennies are back at home and return to MIAC play Wednesday, Sept. 29, when they host No. 21 Bethel at 7 p.m. in Claire Lynch.
