ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Led by senior outside hitter Emma Guest with a career-best .542 hitting percentage on 15 kills, the College of Saint Benedict (10-4, 3-0 MIAC) rolled to a third consecutive MIAC victory in a 3-0 decision (25-9, 25-15, 25-15) over Saint Mary's (7-11, 0-3 MIAC) on Friday night (Sept. 29) at Claire Lynch Hall.

As the Bennies opened a three-game home stand, they controlled every statistical category as they moved to 3-0 in the MIAC and a tie at the top of the league standings. CSB will continue their three-game home stand by hosting St. Scholastica at 5 p.m., on Saturday (Sept. 30). 

Guest led CSB with a career-best .542 hitting percentage on a night where she recorded 15 kills on 24 attacks. She added eight digs and a pair of service aces in an all-around performance. Also, for CSB, junior setter Audrey Spolidoro had 36 set assists, eight digs and two kills as she led the offense. She now has 2,040 set assists in her career.

CSB also had seven kills on 13 attacks for a .462 hitting mark from sophomore middle blocker Mackenzie Knofczynski. And, first-year right-side hitter Brooke Andries had a .455 hitting mark with six kills on 11 attacks. For the 13^th time in 14 games, senior Mackenzie McDonald had double digit digs with a team-high 14.

 As a team, the Bennies recorded a hitting percentage of .395 and totaled 44 kills on 86 attacks with just 10 errors. CSB, which had a 55-to-25 points edge, also had a 10-2 margin in services aces, and had a 43-to-25 edge in digs against the Cardinals.

"We had a 90 percent side out percentage, and, as everyone knows who watches us, serve and pass is the name of the game. We did a great job of being in system and Audrey (Spolidoro) ran a great offense tonight," said CSB head coach Nicole Hess, who recorded her 250^th win at CSB. "Emma (Guest) was really effective tonight with her hitting percentage of .542 on 24 swings. She was fun to watch," she said.

In opening set, CSB rolled to a 25-9 win by putting together one of the team's best hitting performances of the season. CSB had 13 kills on 19 attacks with just one error for a game-best .632. The Bennies opened up a 4-1 lead and quickly moved the advantage to 8-3. With a 13-5 run, CSB took control and built a 21-8 advantage before closing the set out on a kill by Knofczynski.

In the second set, Saint Mary's jumped to a 7-3 lead before Knofczynski kills on successive points spurred a CSB rally. Then, with a trio of kills from Guest, CSB had a 9-7 lead after a 6-0 run. Senior Paige Andries had a kill off a set by Spolidoro for an 11-8 advantage.  After Guest's eighth kill of the game, CSB took a 16-10 lead as part of a 13-3 run.  With the momentum, CSB closed it with a 25-15 decision. In the set, the Bennies hit .290 with 14 kills on 31 attacks and had four service aces.

The Bennies started fast in the third set with two straight service successes from Guest for a 3-0 lead. From there, CSB had a flurry of points for a 10-2 advantage and the Bennies, which hit .361 with 17 kills on 36 attacks, were on their way to the win. When P. Andries followed with her fifth kill of the game, CSB led, 16-8 and then finished with a 9-7 margin for the set win at 25-15.