ST JOSEPH, Minn.-- The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team (12-4, 5-0 MIAC), which has won five straight games, will face a MIAC road test at Macalester (7-10, 1-3 MIAC) when the two teams play for the 40th time at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, Oct. 11 in St. Paul, Minn.

At 5-0 in MIAC play, CSB is tied for first place with Gustavus Adolphus (16-4, 5-0 MIAC). After this MIAC match up, the Bennies will return home on Oct. 14 to host the CSB Quad Tourney, which includes teams from Wisconsin-River Falls, Minnesota Morris and Concordia-Moorhead.

CSB Quad Tourney schedule - UW-River Falls vs. Concordia Moorhead, 10 a.m.; CSB vs UW-River Falls, 12:30 p.m.; Concordia-Moorhead vs Minnesota Morris, 3 p.m.; and CSB vs Minnesota-Morris.
  
Series Notes
In the all-time series, the Bennies own an overall record of 34-5 against Macalester. CSB has a 13-2 record at home while sitting 15-3 in away games with a 26-3 MIAC record. In the last match up, CSB took a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-17, 25-21) on Oct. 7, 2022.  In the first-ever meeting on Oct. 27, 1993, CSB recorded a 3-0 win. The Bennies have won the last 10 matchups and own a 12-game winning streak against the Scots overall.
 
Quick Review - Season
The Bennies opened up their season with a 3-1 record at the Puget Sound Premiere hosted in Tacoma, Washington. The Bennies then hosted UW-Eau Claire for their home opener and fell, 3-1. On Sept. 8-9, the Bennies finished 3-0 at the UW-River Falls Tournament. Next, CSB had a 1-2 record on September 15-16 at the UW-Whitewater Invite. CSB fell to No. 10 UW-Whitewater, 1-3, on Friday, Sept. 15. Later that day, they defeated No. 7 Washington U-St. Louis in five sets, 3-2. On Sept. 16, CSB was defeated by No. 3 UW-Oshkosh, 3-0.  The Bennies defeated Augsburg 3-1 in the MIAC opener on Sept. 20 before defeating St. Catherine, 3-1, on Sept. 23. CSB also had wins over Saint Mary's University (Minn.), 3-0, on September 29 and the College of St Scholastica, 3-1, September 30 before defeating Bethel, 3-0, on Oct. 4.
 
CSB Honors and Notes 
In 2023, Mackenzie McDonald, who leads CSB and ranks seventh in the MIAC with 292 digs and fifth with 4.56/set, has earned selection to the Puget Sound Premiere All-Tourney and the UW-River Falls All-Tourney Team. She has 17 service aces and 51 assists in 2023. McDonald, who has a season-high of 27 digs vs. Eastern on Sept. 2, 2023, recorded a career-high 38 digs vs Gustavus Adolphus on April 28, 2021. She now has 1,106 digs or 4.25/set in her career with 157 assists and 78 service aces.
 
Kali Jones, who has 146 kills (2.52/set) and 483 attacks while recording five double doubles, was named to the UW-River Falls All Tourney Team. Jones has 11 service aces, 132 digs (2.28/set) and 18 total blocks as a first-year outside hitter.

Sophomore middle blocker Mackenzie Knofczynski, has recorded 149 kills (2.33/set) and is hitting a team-best .291 while registering a team-high 61 blocks or 0.95/set. She is 45th in DIII and first in the MIAC in total blocks and second in the league at blocks per set. She was named to the UW-Whitewater All-Tourney Team. In her career, she has 340 kills (2.09/set) on 861 attacks for a .265 hitting mark She also has 124 career blocks, 60 digs and 415 points. Knofczynski set a career-high in kills with 15 against nationally-ranked Washington U on Sept. 15, 2023. Knofczynski has a career-high eight blocks, including three solos, against Simpson on Sept. 9, 2023.
 
First-year right-side hitter Brooke Andries, who has seven double-figure kills totals, has 130 kills (2.10/set) on a .243 hitting percentage. She registered a career-best 14 kills vs Eastern on Sept. 2, 2023. She had five blocks also against Eastern and 33 attacks against nationally ranked Washington U.

Senior Paige Andries has recorded 95 kills or 1.58/set with 271 attacks and a .229 hitting mark. She has 19 digs, and 37 total blocks. In her career, she has 236 kills (1.69/set) with 669 attacks and a .218 hitting mark. Additionally she has 63 total blocks. Andries has a career best of 15 kills against Saint Catherine on Oct. 26, 2022 and Concordia-Moorhead on Oct. 29, 2022. Twice she has had six blocks, including against Pacific Lutheran on Sept. 1, 2023 and No. 2 Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Sept. 16, 2023.
 
Emma Guest, a senior outside hitter, has registered double-doubles in three of the past four games and now has 16 in her career. She leads CSB with 164 kills on 532 attacks and is hitting .182. Guest has 29 service aces, including a high of five against St. Scholastica on Sept, 30, 2023, 188 digs and 11 total blocks while recording 198.5 points. Guest has 594 career kills, 2,012 career attacks, 668 digs and 81 service aces. Seven times this year, including each of the past four games, she has reached double-digit kills. In her career, she has a top mark of 23 kills in a game at Saint Mary's on Oct. 14, 2022, and three times has had 20 digs in a game, including against Simpson on Sept. 8, 2023.
 
With 9.20 assists per set, junior setter Audrey Spolidoro ranks third in the MIAC and 36th in DIII. Her total of 589 assists is fourth highest in the MIAC and 28th in DIII. She has seven double doubles this season and 30 career double doubles. In her career, Spolidoro has totaled 2,125 career set assists as she continues to move closer to the program's top 10 in the category. In program history, Spolidoro sits behind Vicki Razinger (1992-1993) and Marie Liekhus (1998, 2000-01), who are tied for ninth with 2,243. Lynn Gustafson (1989-91) sits eighth with 2,262 and Katie Koch (2017-21) is seventh at 2,789. Fourteen times this season, Spolidoro has 30 or more set assists.  Spolidoro, who set a career high with 62 set assists against nationally-ranked Washington U on Sept. 15, 2023, has totaled 30 kills, 16 service aces, 19 total blocks and 56.5 points. In her career she has 136 kills with 53 service aces, and 55 total blocks.

Spolidoro and Guest named MIAC Athletes of the Week
After the two wins Sept. 29-30, Spolidoro and Guest of the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team earned Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Athlete of the Week honors. Guest was named the MIAC Offensive Player of the Week while Spolidoro was the Specialty Player of the Week. The dual honor of CSB players by the MIAC was the first since Katie Koch (setter/libero) and Hunter Weiss (hitter of the week) were named on Sept. 3, 2019. For Spolidoro, it was her second honor in three weeks and Guest earned her first-ever award from the league. In two games, Guest had 32 kills (4.57/set) on 68 attacks and a .368 hitting mark. In the win over St. Scholastica on Sept. 30, she had a game-high 17 kills (second most this season) on 44 attacks and a .273 hitting mark. Guest, who has six double-digit kills games, also had 12 digs and a season-high five service aces, which was one short of her career-best (six, vs. Sewanee, 9/9/2022). On Friday (Sept. 29), she registered a career-best .542 hitting percentage off 15 kills on 24 attacks. She also had eight digs and a pair of service aces in an all-around performance.  Spolidoro, who was MIAC Specialty Player of the Week on Sept. 18, averaged 11.86 set assists and 3.57 digs in the two wins.  
 
By the Numbers
In the MIAC, CSB ranks third in the league with 1,013.5 points (15.84/set). CSB is fourth in hitting at .192 with 780 kills on 2,386 attacks. The Bennies sit fourth in kills at 12.19 per set and blocks with 108.5 (1.70/set). CSB is fifth in the MIAC with 10.84 assists per game (694 total), sixth in service aces with 125 (1.95/set) while ranking seventh with 1,047 digs (16.36/set).  

About Macalester
Macalester, which has lost four of its past six games, is led by Mary Johnson, who became head coach in July, 2021 after 11 seasons at Franklin (Ind.) College. On Sept. 30, the Scots defeated Carroll, 3-0, and took a 3-2 win over Bethel on Sept. 23, at the Leonard Center. In the MIAC, Macalester, ranks 11^th in hitting at .129 (653 kills on 2,293 attacks). Adisa Preston leads the Scots in kills with 200 or 3.13/set for fifth in the MIAC. She has also recorded a team-best 36 service aces. Avery Rahe has 96 kills or 2.09/set while Hannah Morrow has 497 assists or 7.7/set for seventh in the MIAC.
 
CSB led by Head Coach Nicole Hess 
CSB Head Coach Nicole Hess has a career mark of 316-255, including 252-122 at Saint Ben's with a 98-39 MIAC record. With Hess at the helm, CSB has won 20 or more games five times with a best of 29 in 2012. In that period, CSB has finished third or better in the MIAC seven times, including second four times. In program history, the Bennies have 21 seasons of 20 wins or more and 16 seasons of at least 25 wins (30 wins three times). She ranks second all-time in wins at CSB with her 252 trailing only Carol Howe-Veenstra, who was 366-150 in her career at CSB including 176-36 in the MIAC.