ST. PAUL, MINN. – Despite double-doubles from Gabby Heying, Audrey Spolidoro and Emma Guest plus a career-high 15 kills by Paige Andries, the College of Saint Benedict (14-10, 6-4 MIAC) dropped a hard-fought contest to St. Catherine (16-7, 7-3 MIAC), 3-1 (23-25, 21-25, 25-15, 24-26) in MIAC play on Wednesday night.

CSB, which dropped to 14-10 overall and 6-4 in MIAC play, will wrap up the regular season by hosting Concordia (MN) College on Saturday at 5 pm at Claire Lynch Hall.

The stats showed CSB with an advantage, but St. Catherine pulled out a 3-1 win with some crucial points late in sets. Overall, CSB had a 65-to-61 edge in points, 59-to-51 in kills and 87-to-83 in digs, but the Wildcats had a 6-to-2 edge in blocks. Overall, CSB had a .188 hitting mark with 59 kills on 181 attacks with 25 errors while SCU had 51 kills on 173 attacks with 19 errors for a .185 mark.

Despite the road loss, CSB had a number of individual career-bests, and three double doubles. Junior Paige Andries had a career-high 15 kills on 27 attacks with just one hitting error as she also recorded her career-best hitting mark of .519.

Heying had a team-high 16 kills and 10 digs. Heying, who hit .200, now has a season-career best 315 kills as she now has 920 in her career. She also recorded her 26 th career double-double, and now has 54 career matches, including 21 this year, with double-digit kills. Guest registered her ninth career double-double as she had 10 kills and a career-best 20 digs. Also recording a double double was Spolidoro with 44 assists, and 15 digs to go with five kills. A sophomore setter, Spolidoro, who has 19 double-doubles in her career, now has a league-best 902 set assists and has totaled 1,426 in her career.

Match Breakdown -
In the opening set, CSB jumped out quickly, scoring nine straight points to take a 10-2 lead. However, St. Catherine scored four straight points before Guest delivered the first of her four kills in the set for an 11-6 lead. In that opening run, Heying had five kills. After a 5-2 run by the Wildcats, the match was even at 16. However, the home team continued their push and moved their lead to 21-18. CSB rallied to within, 24-23, but dropped the opening set, 25-23. In the set, CSB had the edge in kills, 13-12, but was outhit, .211 to .150 with three more attack errors (7-4).

CSB opened a 4-3 lead in set two following a kill by Mackenzie Knofczynski. St. Kate's responded with a 10-to-6 run to take a 14-10 advantage. The Bennies used a 4-1 run, including a kill from Heying, to draw even at 15. The Bennies took an 18-16 lead when Knofczynski had a kill followed by Heying's service ace. The Wildcats responded with a 6-0 run for a 22-18 advantage and closed the set at 25-21 for a 2-0 lead. In the second set, CSB improved on their hitting, recording .164 on 15 kills but had six errors. The Wildcats again hit solidly, converting 15 kills on just three errors for a .261 hitting mark.

In the third set, CSB opened a 7-5 lead after Heying had a pair of kills and Guest also converted at the net. The Bennies continued their early momentum with a 5-1 run for a 12-6 lead with kills by Spolidoro and Andries. CSB pushed the lead to 20-13 after Spolidoro's kill. Then a kill by Andries gave the Bennies a 22-15 advantage. St. Ben's, which hit .294 (14 kills and four errors) in the set, finished out with a win by taking the final three points for a 25-15 decision.

Early in the fourth set, the Wildcats jumped ahead at 3-0 but CSB rallied to tie the match at 8-8 with an 8-5 run. CSB took an 11-9 lead after Olivia Thompson had a kill and took a 15-14 advantage on an attack error by St. Kate's. The Wildcats used a 4-2 run for an 18-17 lead and moved ahead at 20-18 before CSB rallied. With kills from Thompson and Andries, the Bennies led, 21-20. CSB pushed the lead to 23-21 before the Wildcats finished on a 5-1 run to grab a 26-24 set win and take the match. In the final set, CSB was outhit, .184-to-.167, even though the Bennies had a 16-to-13 edge in kills.