SAINT JOSEPH, Minn. -- The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team came out on fire but wasn't able to keep up with St. Olaf College as the Oles rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Bennies in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) tournament semifinals (25-18, 10-25, 20-25, 21-25).
With the loss, the Bennies record stands at 17-10 overall, while St. Olaf moves to 21-8 on the season. The Oles advance to the MIAC Championship game where they will travel to St. Peter, Minn. to take on regular season champion Gustavus Adolphus College. St. Ben's, which was ranked fifth in the latest regional rankings, will find out if they are selected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on Monday.
The Bennies were led by senior outside hitter
Emma Guest, who posted a team-high 15 kills, while hitting a team best .297. First year
Brooke Andries also finished with double digit kills for CSB, posting 11 kills on 25 swings with a .280 hitting percentage.
Kali Jones and
Paige Andries added nine and five kills respectively for St. Ben's. Junior All-MIAC setter
Audrey Spolidoro posted a match-high 38 assists, while adding 12 digs as she captained the Bennie offense.
Game Summary
In the opening set, the teams battled to an 11-11 tie before the Bennies used a kill by
Mackenzie Knofczynski and Jones as well as a St. Olaf hitting miscue to take a 14-11 lead. The teams traded points until the Bennies rattled off four points in a row to extend their lead to 20-14. It was a back-and-forth next few points before a Guest kill sealed the win for CSB. Saint Ben's had one of their best offensive performances of the season in the first set, hitting an impressive .394 with 16 kills on 33 attempts.
The second set was all Oles as St. Olaf hit a lights out .452 and led for all but two points in the set.
St. Olaf attempted to carry their momentum into set three, but the Bennies weren't going away. CSB rallied with an 8-2 run to tie the set at 17 points apiece. The Oles pulled ahead 21-19 and CSB took a timeout, however, St. Olaf scored four of the last five points to seal the 25-20 set three win and go up two sets to one.
The final set was a tightly contested affair with both teams have momentum swings throughout the set. After a
Libby Burns service ace, CSB pulled the score to 20-18 in favor of St. Olaf, but a pair of hitting miscues and a Ole kill extended the visitors lead to 23-18. Guest had a pair of kills down the stretch but St. Ben's couldn't quite pull ahead as St. Olaf claimed a hard-fought 3-1 win.
