ST. PAUL, Minn. – Kali Jones and Audrey Spolidoro recorded double doubles and helped rally the (RV) College of Saint Benedict volleyball team (15-5, 7-0 MIAC) to a 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-10) road victory over Hamline (4-14, 0-7 MIAC) in MIAC play on Friday night.

With a second consecutive victory and the ninth in 11 games, the Bennies moved to 15-5 overall and 7-0 in the MIAC. CSB, which received votes in the most recent AVCA/TARAFLEX national poll, now travels to St. Peter, Minn., for a 5 p.m., first-place matchup on Saturday (Oct. 21) with No. 20 Gustavus Adolphus (19-6, 7-0 MIAC). CSB is off to its best start in MIAC play since opening 8-0 in 2018.

After winning 25-19, CSB lost consecutive sets to Hamline by scores of 25-18 and 25-22. Then, the Bennies rallied for the victory with 25-21 and 15-10 set decisions. The victory was the 100^th MIAC win for CSB head coach Nicole Hess (100-39).

Junior setter Audrey Spolidoro recorded her ninth double double of the season and 34^th of her career with 47 set assists and 19 digs. She also added five kills on eight attacks for a .625 hitting mark and contributed two service aces. Spolidoro now has 725 set assists on the year and moved into ninth place all-time at CSB in career assists with 2,261. She passed Vicki Razinger (1992-1993) and Marie Liekhus (1998, 2000-01), who had been tied for ninth at 2,243, and is just one set assist behind Lynn Gustafson (1989-91) at 2,262.

First-year outside hitter Kali Jones also had a double double with a team-high 16 kills while adding 15 digs. She now has six double doubles as she had her 11^th double-digit kills performance. In total, CSB had three players with double-digit kills as senior Paige Andries had 12 kills on 31 attacks with just two errors for a .323 hitting mark. Sophomore middle blocker Mackenzie Knofczynski also had 12 kills on 36 attacks with four blocks. Also for CSB, senior Emma Guest had eight kills, two aces and 23 digs while senior Mackenzie McDonald had a team-high 24 digs as she now has double-digit digs in 19 of CSB's 20 games. McDonald also had her eighth game of 20 digs or more.

Overall, the Bennies had statistical advantages in the majority of categories, including 60-to-43 in kills; 212-to-192 in attacks; 52-to-35 in set assists; 8-to-4 in services aces and 107-to-99 in digs.

Game Summary
After a slow start in the opening set, CSB rebounded for a 25-19 win. The Bennies had two service aces, two blocks and 10 kills, including three by Jones and P. Andries, in earning the win. Hamline jumped to a 10-9 lead before a P. Andries' kill led to a 13-10 advantage for the Bennies. With a service ace from Guest and P. Andries' third kill of the set, CSB built a 19-13 lead. Guest had a kill and Jones' a service ace, as CSB closed out the set for a 1-0 lead.

McDonald opened the second set with a pair of service aces as the Bennies took a 4-2 lead. However, Hamline, which had 11 kills on 39 attacks for a .179 hitting mark, used a 7-2 run for a 13-10 advantage. Then they had another 4-2 run to push the lead to 17-12 before closing the set at 25-18. CSB hit just .024 with 11 kills on 42 attacks as the Pipers evened the game at 1-1.

Two kills from Knofczynski, a kill by Guest and a service ace from Libby Burns helped CSB to a 9-6 advantage in the third set. The home-standing Pipers scored four straight points to take a 14-13 lead. The Bennies responded with a 4-2 run for a 17-16 lead. However, the Pipers closed on a 9-5 run to take a 25-22 decision. The Pipers outhit the Bennies, .289 (13K-2E-38A) to .256 (17K-6E-43A).

With an 8-2 run in the middle of the fourth set, CSB took a six-point lead at 19-13 and earned a 25-21 win to force a fifth set. CSB had 14 kills and hit .163 in the set. CSB opened a 6-4 lead as Jones had a pair of kills. The Bennies later took a 10-7 lead after Guest and B. Andries both had kills. Hamline rallied to tie the set at 11-11 after a 4-1 run. From there, CSB took off on the 8-2 run as Guest had a pair of kills and Jones also had a kill. With her 11^th kill of the game, P. Andries gave CSB a 21-16 lead and the Bennies closed it out nine points later.

In the fifth set, the Bennies, which had an 8-to-1 margin in kills, trailed 3-0 before rallying for a 15-10 set win and a 3-2 game decision. After the slow start, CSB had a 7-2 run for a 7-5 advantage. Later, Knofczynski supplied a kill for an 11-9 lead. At 12-10, CSB closed with three straight points to take the decision and extend their conference winning streak to seven games.