Notables
-Rajala recorded a career-high five blocks
-CSS had three different runs of six consecutive points or more
-The Saints lead the all-time series record against Bethany by a score of 18-8
-The upcoming match against Eau-Claire will be the third nationally ranked opponent the Saints have played this season
MANKATO, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The College of St. Scholastica volleyball team added another tally to its conference win column Friday night after sweeping the Bethany Lutheran Vikings, 3-0.
The match marked the third conference match of the year for the Saints, who went into Friday night's contest with a record of 1-1 after grabbing a much needed win against the North Central University Rams a few nights ago. The Saints may have swept the Vikings, but the first set didn't start the way CSS had hoped.
After trading a few points back-and-forth early on in set one, the Vikings found a bit of a hot streak and found themselves up 9-6 over the visiting Saints. St. Scholastica, who were favorites in the matchup, turned on the burners and answered with 15 of the next 17 points to jump out in front with a comfortable 21-11 lead.
Noelle Elvehjem (Mora, Minn./Mora HS) recorded three kills within those 15 points to lead the Saints down the stretch. Also helping was
Sofia Rajala (Deer River, Minn./Greenway HS) and
Alex Barsody (Onamia, Minn./Onamia HS), who each contributed two points of their own on the run. The teams then traded points until
Amanda Belden (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) was able to put away set one with a kill off of an
Espi Austvold (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer HS) set to make the score 25-15.
The second set proved to be the closest as both teams managed to break the 20-point threshold. Yet again the Saints started off slow, falling behind early to the Vikings by a score of 11-7. Bethany's Jasmine Carlson was involved in five of their first 11 points, providing a spark for the Vikings. The spark was quickly extinguished as a couple back-to-back Bethany Lutheran errors brought the Saints back to within one, 16-15.
That would be the last time the Saints trailed as they blew open the match with seven-straight points thanks in part to two kills from Belden to give them a 22-16 lead. The Vikings mustered together a few more points, but ultimately fell in set two after Belden struck again twice more along with Elvehjem's final point to give the Saints the 25-20 victory.
The Saints learned from their early mistakes in the first two sets as they broke out to a 7-2 lead over Bethany in the third. The teams would then exchange points until the score read 12-6, which is when the Saints went on yet another run. This time it was an eight-point run, with four of those eight points coming off of Viking errors. Elvehjem then scored the next three points for the Saints after Bethany managed to squeeze a few more in themselves, making the score 22-9. Two Bethany errors would lead up to
Nikki Kienzle (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown HS)'s match winning kill, which gave the Saints the 3-0 sweep and the conference win.
Top Performers
Elvehjem led the way offensively for the Saints, recording a team-high 10 kills. Barsody had a team-high 17 digs and
Emily Kessler (Grand Rapids, Minn./Greenway HS (Itasca CC)) collected 18 assists, while both Saints recorded three aces each. Rajala got the job done at the net, earning five blocks on the night.
Bethany Lutheran as led on the offensive side by Megan Rutt (11 kills) and Carlson (21 assists). Anna Nelson led the way defensively, recording a team-high 12 digs.
Up Next
The Saints will be in action again this weekend as they travel to Eau Claire, Wisconsin for two matches Saturday afternoon. The first will be against No. 24 UW-Eau Claire (2 p.m.), followed by a match against Carroll University (Wis.) (4 p.m.)
