ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The College of Saint Benedict went 2-2 at their season opening tournament at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. On Friday, the Bennies fell 3-0 to North Park University, then rebounded with a 3-0 win over Berea College. On Saturday, CSB fell to host Wash U 3-0 and then rebounded with a five-set win over North Park University.
Against North Park on Friday, CSB was led by
Emma Guest, who posted a team-high eight kills, while adding 14 digs and a service ace.
Gabby Heying led the Bennie defense with 16 digs, and chipped in six kills.
Mackenzie McDonald added 12 digs and a pair of service aces.
Audrey Spolidoro led St. Ben's with 23 assists and added a pair of kills.
Against Berea College, four bennies finished with double-digit digs in a solid defensive effort. McDonald had a team-high 19 digs, followed by
Chaeli Haupert with 17,
Gabby Heying with 16 and
Emma Guest with 10 digs. Heying added a team-best 12 kills, while chipping in two aces and a block assist. Guest added seven kills, while Spolidoro dished out 26 assists.
Against Wash U, the Bennies struggled to find their offensive rhythm and dropped a three set match. Guest paced CSB with a team-high nine digs and eight kills. Solidoro added 20 assists for St. Ben's in the loss.
In CSB's rematch against North Park University on Saturday, the Bennies showed composure coming back from a 2-1 deficit to take the final two sets with scores of 25-23 and 15-10.
Paige Andries paced CSB with a team-best 13 kills, followed by Heying with 11 and
Mackenzie Knofczynski who posted a career-best 10 kills. Heying picked up a season-best 20 digs, while McDonald added 18 digs in the win over North Park.
CSB returns to action next Friday-Saturday when the Bennies travel to Lexington Kentucky for the Transy Invite. CSB will take on Texas Lutheran University (4 p.m. Central), Sewanee (6 p.m. Central), the University of Dubuque (9 a.m. Central) and the University of Chicago (1 p.m. Central). Live video and stats, as well as a tournament website are available on gobennies.com.
