The St. Scholastica volleyball team will continue its early season travels as it hits the road to face off with St. Benedict, the University of Minnesota-Morris and Simpson College (Iowa).
Match Times:
Friday – St. Benedict – 5 p.m.
Minn.-Morris – 7 p.m.
Saturday – Simpson – 9 a.m.
GameDay Media: Blazer Invitational Page
Last Action: The Saints made it to the championship game at the Augsburg Tournament, but fell there to 7th ranked St. Thomas in straight sets.
Anna Zyvoloski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral HS (Minn.-Duluth)) had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs, and
Nikki Hughes (Lake Nebagamon, Wis./Northwestern HS) added 11 digs of her own.
St. Scholastica Saints (9-3)
With a strong start to the season on the road, and taking 2nd in the recent Augsburg Tournament, the Saints earned themselves a top 25 ranking last week at number 25. The Saints dropped out of the rankings, but are the first team out of the top 25. St. Scholastica has seen a lot of success from Zyvoloski, who leads the team with an impressive 161 kills and 162 digs. The senior Hughes is 2nd on the team with 156 digs of her own. Setter
Sarah Kurtovich (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) leads the team with 297 set assists, but the Saints have also seen early success from freshman
Erika Birkeland (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake HS), who has 129 assists of her own.
St. Benedict Blazers (5-5, 1-0 MIAC)
The Blazers have a .500 record on the season, but two of their victories were over a quality opponent in UW-Eau Claire. Three of the five losses have come to very quality opponents as well in St. Scholastica, Carthage and Concordia-Moorhead. St. Ben's has seen early success senior Chelsie Sobieck and sophomore Lexi Alm, who led the team after nine games with 99 kills each and freshman Taya Kockelman led the team with 214 assists. Sophomore Chelsea Rachel led the team with a whopping 208 digs and junior Shannon Bassett led the team with 16 blocks. The Blazers have just one senior and one junior, but are seeing a lot of potential and early season success from their young squad.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. St. Benedict: 15-5)
The Saints and Blazers last met at the 2011 Augsburg Tournament last weekend with the Saints taking the match 3-1.
Minnesota-Morris Cougars (5-1)
After losing the opening match to St. Catherine, the Cougars have won five straight, including recent sweeps of Mayville State (N.D.) and Mount Marty (S.D.). Leading the team with 53 kills is junior Steph Schmiesing, and sophomore Kaylie Clark is right behind her with 50. Setter Natalie Thomas leads the team with 195 assists and 16 service aces and junior Brita Humphrey leads the team with 66 digs. The Cougars need Schmiesing and Clark to keep up good play, as they lost the top two team leaders in kills from last year in Megan Theis and Jordan Olerud. The Cougars will face off with Simpson before playing the Saints.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. UM-Morris: 18-8)
The Saints and Cougars met in conference play last October with the Saints coming out ahead 3-1. Hardy and Zyvoloski had 22 and 21 kills respectively.
Simpson Storm (1-5, 0-2 IIAC)
Simpson has had a rough beginning to their season, going 1-3 in non-conference play, then starting off conference play losing to Central (Iowa) and Coe College. Senior Megan Dunlavy and junior Steph Keller lead the team with 64 kills apiece. Dunlavy also leads the team with 12 total blocks. Leading the team in digs is sophomore Kim Rogers with 63. Setter Ashley Padget tops the list with 122 assists this year. The Storm will play Minnesota-Morris and St. Benedict before facing St. Scholastica.
Last Meeting: (CSS All-Time Record vs. Simpson: 1-2)
St. Scholastica and Simpson last met in 2005 in Chicago, Illinois. The Storm edged out the Saints in that match, 3-2 (30-27, 27-30, 25-30, 30-19, 15-12).
