ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team (10-11, 6-3 MIAC), which has won seven of its past nine games, faces a road test against Saint Mary's (7-19, 0-9 MIAC) on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., as the Bennies conclude a three-game road trip.

After Saint Mary's, St. Ben's will complete their road trip at Saint Mary's for a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday, Nov. 6. The Bennies will return home for the last regular season matchup against St. Olaf on Senior Day Saturday, Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. CSB will hold a "Red Out" in the regular season final.
 
How things sit in MIAC
With three games to go in the regular season, St. Ben's has clinched a MIAC playoff berth with a 6-3 MIAC record for fifth place in the league.  St. Ben's sits a half game ahead of St. Olaf at 6-4 (19-8 overall) for fifth place in the MIAC. Gustavus leads the MIAC at 10-0 – 19-9 overall followed by Bethel and St. Catherine at 9-1 – 19-7 with Bethel at 8-2 -18-8 for third and then Augsburg at 7-3 and 16-12, just ahead of CSB. If CSB finishes in the top four of the league they will host a playoff game on Tuesday, Nov. 12. If they are seeded fifth or sixth, they will play on the road.

St. Benedict has a two-game winning streak after a 3-1 win over Carleton and a 3-0 sweep of Concordia this past week. As a result, Audrey Spolidoro was named MIAC Specialist of the Week for the third time after averaging 12.0 assists and 2.71 digs per set. CSB middle blocker McKenna Moehrle, who hit .510 across the two wins with 31 kills, was named the St. Cloud Orthopedic / CSB Athlete of the Week.k

Series Records
In the match up with Saint Mary's, CSB owns a 27-11 record as the teams will meet for a 39th time. The Bennies, which won the last matchup between the two teams in three sets, 3-0, on Sept. 29, 2023, by scores of 25-9, 25-15 and 25-15 at Claire Lynch Hall. In the series, CSB is 12-6 at home and 13-5 in road games with a 23-8 MIAC mark. In the first-ever matchup on Sept. 24, 1993, the Bennies took a 3-0 decision.
 
Inside look at Saint Mary's
Saint Mary's is directed by second-year head coach Amber Zitzow. SMU averages 10.3 kills per set with 599 on the season. They average 9.2 assists, 1.8 service aces, 16.4 digs and 1.2 blocks per set. With 3.42 kills/set (325), Brenna Bruchert lead the Cardinals. Kali Olson also averages 3.22 kills/set on 325 kills while Devann Clemens has a team-best 4.36 assists/set.

Inside Look at St. Benedict
St. Benedict, directed by 15th-year head coach Nicole Hess, has recorded a total of 1011 kills on the season, averaging 12.6 kills per set for fifth in the MIAC. CSB is also ranked fifth in the MIAC in assists at 11.4 per set while sitting third for 1.8 blocks per set with 147 total blocks. CSB ranks fifth in the league in hitting at .179.

Senior setter Audrey Spolidoro, leads the team in assists with 826, leaving her second in the MIAC, while also recording 52 career double doubles. A two-time All-MIAC and returning AVCA honorable mention all-region performer who has earned three All-MIAC Specialist of the Week honors this year, she is just the third CSB student-athlete to reach 3K in assists and 1K in digs. She now has 274 digs for 3.26 digs/set with 46 blocks (0.55 blocks/set) and 0.32 service aces (27 total).

This year, Spolidoro has had 16 double doubles (assists/digs) and now has 52 in her career. She has recorded 10 games of 40 or more assists with two over 50, including a high of 55 vs Cortland on August 31. Her career high in assists is 62 vs Washington U on Sept. 15, 2023. He has a career best 22 digs and seven blocks, both against Simpson this year on Sept. 20, 2024. hrough 84 sets in 2024, the senior is averaging 9.83 assists per set (2^nd, MIAC) and a total of 826. She now has 274 digs for 3.26 digs/set with 46 blocks (0.55 blocks/set) and 0.32 service aces (27 total.)   In addition, Spolidoro has accumulated 58 kills on 196 attacks with just four errors for a .276 hitting mark.

A two-time All-MIAC honoree, who was named AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region a year ago, Spolidoro has play 362 sets across 96 matches in her career, accumulating 216 kills (0.60/set) on 799 attacks for a .200 hitting mark. This year, Spolidoro has had 16 double doubles (assists/digs) and now has 52 in her career. She has recorded nine games of 10 or more assists with two over 50, including a high of 55 vs Cortland on August 31. Her career-high in assists is 62 vs Washington U on Sept. 15, 2023. He has a career best 22 digs and seven blocks, both against Simpson this year on Sept. 20, 2024.
 
At the net, Saint Benedict is led by sophomore, Kali Jones, who has recorded 3.63 (254) kills on the season (8th in MIAC) with 266 digs, and 38 serve aces. Her 38 aces are 16 more than a year ago and she already has surpassed her digs total of 215 from last year. At 0.45 per set, she ranks third in the MIAC. She also has scored 304.5 points. She has 20 double doubles in her career with 13 this season.  Jones has 493 career kills and 2.77 kills/set in her career.

Junior Chaeli Haupert leads CSB with 324 digs (3.86/set) and has added 26 service aces. She now has 786 digs and 94 career service aces.

McKenna Moehrle, a sophomore middle blocker, is hitting .255  with 231 kills on 552 attacks, or 2.75 kills/set. She also has 62 blocks or 0.74 per set. Fourteen times, she has reached double digits and has 15 kills in a game five times. She recorded a career-high 18 kills with the career-best .517 hitting mark in the win over Carleton. In that game, she was a perfect 7-of-7 on kills in the first set. She was recently named St. Cloud Orthopedics/CSB Athlete of the Week after recording 31 kills and hitting .510 across two victories on the road.

Mackenzie Knofczynski is averaging 0.90 blocks per set for fourth in the MIAC and her 76 total blocks is sixth in the MIAC.  She has totaled 191 kills or 2.27/set with 504 attacks and a .210 hitting mark. She has 229 career blocks, including a career-best 90 a year ago. In addition, she has 600  kills on 1,607 career attacks with 15 service aces.

Hess leads CSB Volleyball
In 14 seasons, head coach Nicole Hess, who is coaching her 15th season, has had tremendous success. She was inducted into the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015 and has coached 12 All-Americans, 75 All-Central Region players, 34 All-MIAC athletes and 49 athletes who earned Academic All-MIAC honors. She is 267-140 overall at CSB and 108-44 in MIAC play. In her 21 seasons overall as a head coach, Hess is 331-272 overall and 123-106 in conference play. She recorded her 300th win with a 3-0 win over Macalester on Oct. 7, 2022. Hess led CSB to a national tournament berth each year from 2011-15, including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2012, and made it back to the NCAA Tournament each year from 2017-19 with a 26-8 record and another Sweet 16 trip in 2018 and a 26-6 record and an Elite 8 appearance in 2019. She has won 18 or more games in nine of her 14 seasons, including four seasons with 21 wins or more.