ST. PAUL Minn. -- In mid-September, sophomore middle blocker McKenna Moehrle and her College of Saint Benedict teammates were 3-9 – a young roster with only one senior and two juniors trying hard to find its footing.
 
Less than two months later, the Bennies are headed for the NCAA Division III tournament.
 
Moehrle helped make that happen, leading the way with 10 kills as No. 4 seed CSB swept No. 2 seed St. Catherine 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-14) in the MIAC Tournament Championship match Saturday night in St. Paul.
 
The victory earned the Bennies (15-11) the conference's automatic tournament bid. CSB – which has won seven straight and 12 of its last 14 games – finds out where it will head next when the Division III pairings are announced at noon Monday.
 
"It didn't feel real," Moehrle said of the final moment when the Bennies claimed match point. "The gym just froze, and it felt like we were in a whole different universe. I'm on cloud nine right now. It's amazing."
 
The win completes a Cinderella run through the MIAC tournament for CSB, which outlasted No. 5 seed Augsburg 3-2 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night at Claire Lynch Hall, then went on the road to sweep top-seeded Gustavus 3-0 in the semifinals Thursday. Then, the Bennies beat St. Catherine for the second time this season - both by 3-0 sweeps. CSB won its first MIAC Tournament Championship since the 2017 season.
 
"It says a lot about the character and work ethic of these players," said Bennies coach Nicole Hess, whose team will return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019. "It's one of those things where early on (this season), we were losing really close matches. It wasn't like we were getting blown out. But we were losing, and it's really easy sometimes to get caught up in that negative spiral. But they didn't. They came to work every day. "We worked really hard on our mental game, and I think that showed this week." 
 
CSB fell behind in the first set Saturday but were able to rally and win. From there, momentum was on their side. After a 25-22 opening set win, the Bennies rolled to 25-18 and 25-14 set wins to clinch the tournament title. The Bennies finished the tournament winning seven straight sets, including sweeps of the No. 1 (Gustavus Adolphus) and No. 2 seeds (St. Catherine). Tonight, they had 44 kills on 117 attacks and hit .274 while adding seven service aces and three total blocks.
 
"We talked about how important it is to start early," said sophomore outside hitter Kali Jones, who finished with eight kills and 11 digs, just missing her third straight double double. "There's been a trend. When we start early, we finish really well."
 
Junior middle blocker Mackenzie Knofczynski and sophomore Brooke Andries also finished with eight kills. Senior setter Audrey Spolidoro had three kills, 35 set assists and 12 digs. For Spolidoro, she had her 55th career double double with 19 this season. Junior libero Chaeli Haupert led her team with 17 digs.
 
"This is an absolutely amazing feeling," said Moehrle after her team finished celebrating with the MIAC championship hardware. "It's been our goal since the beginning of the season and it feels so, so good. We're so excited."