St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse volleyball team advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Regional Semifinals with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-13) win over College of Saint Benedict (Minn.) Thursday night in the Ericksen Center on the campus of the University of Northwestern (Minn.).

UWL, receiving votes on this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll, improves to 22-6 on the season and will face the winner of the Northwestern (Minn.)/Cornell College (Iowa) match in the regional semifinals Friday, November 10 at 7 p.m. Saint Benedict (Minn.), also receiving votes on the AVCA Poll, ends its season at 19-6.

UWL, making its 15th appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships, led 4-1 in the opening set Thursday and later made it 13-6 on a Laine Hoeffel kill. Saint Benedict (Minn.) used a 9-3 run to cut the lead to 16-15 on a Megan Pekarek kill. The Eagles responded with four straight points to lead 20-15 and later led 23-19 after a Jessica Jablonski kill, but the Blazers came back to score the final six points of the set to win, 25-23. UWL had three hitting errors in the Saint Benedict (Minn.) run.

The Blazers led 12-11 in the second set when the Eagles went on a 12-4 run to lead 23-15.

UWL never trailed in the third set, scoring seven of the first 10 points. The Eagles led 7-5 when they went on a 11-5 run to lead 18-10 after a Kathryn Maas kill. The Blazers could get no closer than seven points the rest of the set. UWL hit .368 in the third set, finishing with 15 kills and one error in 38 attempts.

Scoring the first four points of the fourth set, UWL never trailed as it led 12-4 on a Marisa Johnson kill. Saint Benedict (Minn.) cut the deficit to 15-10, but could get no closer with UWL scored five of the next six points to lead 20-11.

Stephanie Henk and Kathryn Maas led UWL with 15 kills each Thursday while Johnson finished with 10. Henk hit .267 (15-7-30) overall while Maas hit .429 (15-3-28). Madison Entinger recorded 51 assists as the Eagles hit .253 overall. UWL had 29 kills and six errors in the final two sets.

Halle Barnabo led four players in double figures in digs with 19 while Henk, Johnson and Paige Schmidt each finished with 10. UWL had 8.0 team blocks with Jablonski recording five block assists.

Madison Weiss led Saint Benedict (Minn.) with nine kills while Briana Schmiesing finished with eight. Pekarek recorded 29 assists as the Blazers hit .118 overall.

Haley LaValle recorded 17 digs while Liz Schultz finished with 12 and Pekarek with 11. Saint Benedict (Minn.) had 6.0 team blocks.

UWL is now 19-15 all-time in its 15 NCAA Division III Championship appearances. The Eagles have made the national tournament the last three seasons, advancing to the regional semifinals in 2016. UWL finished third in 1986 and fourth in 1985 while advancing to the national quarterfinals in 2003 and 2004.