LISLE, Ill. - St. Norbert College came away with a pair of wins, rallying past Benedictine University in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference matchup and Carroll University in non-conference action at the Rice Center.
The Green Knights (12-4, 3-0 NACC) opened the day by topping Benedictine 3-1 with scores of 18-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15 before closing out the afternoon with a sweep over Carroll, winning 25-20, 25-20, 25-23.
Against Benedictine, St. Norbert dropped the opening frame, but quickly regrouped with a dominant response in Set 2, hitting .425 with 20 kills and just three errors. More than half of those kills came from
Casey Vaughan (pictured),
Mari Szews, and
Anna Kudick. The Green Knights carried that momentum into Set 3, pulling away from a 9-9 tie with a 9-3 scoring run that included three kills from Vaughan. Set 4 started off tight before the Green Knights broke away to a 16-10 lead, eventually closing out the match 25-15 while holding the Eagles to a .026 hitting percentage.
St. Norbert finished with a .275 hitting percentage, totaling 55 kills against 17 errors in 138 attempts. Vaughan led the way with 15 kills and 14 digs, while Kudick added 10 kills and Szews nine.
Heidi Colburn dished out 42 assists.
Kara Sowinski matched Vaughan at 14 digs, and
Andrianna Volz added 13. Szews had two blocks at the net and
Claire Leynse finished with two aces.
Against Carroll, the Green Knights never trailed in the first two sets. The Pioneers stayed within a couple points throughout Set 1, but St. Norbert was able to extend the margin behind a Leynse service ace and seven kills from
Mickenzi Benter. The Green Knights opened up Set 2 with a 12-6 lead. An ace from Volz helped stretch the lead to 19-13, and St. Norbert was able to hold on for another 25-20 win with a .326 hitting percentage and kills coming from seven different players. The third set stayed tight and featured 10 ties and four lead changes, with Carroll holding a 21-22 edge late. Vaughan answered with two kills to shift momentum, and Szews followed with back-to-back kills to finish off the set and secure the sweep.
The Green Knights finished the match with a .269 hitting percentage with 47 kills against 15 errors in 119 attempts. Benter led the offense with 12 kills, followed by Vaughan with 10 and Szews with eight. Colburn finished with 26 assists, while
Keira Ashenfelter added 13.
Kirsten Klatt posted five blocks. Vaughan led the back row with 11 digs, while Sowinski added 10 and Volz six. Volz and Vaughan each recorded two aces.
