Benedictine Volleyball hits Dugan Jones Court for the first name as a ranked program, as the No. 25-ranked Ravens host Grand View University tonight and William Penn University on Saturday afternoon.
Tonight's match with the Vikings can be streamed live at https://www.urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/3049, with live stats available at https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=675573. Tonight we stand against Cancer for our annual Cancer Awareness MatchÂ
Benedictine and Grand View have faced off 15 times since the Vikings joined the Heart of the 2015 season. The Vikings won the fist 10 meetings with the Ravens while the Ravens have won 3 of the last 5 headed into tonight's match. They played twice last season, both matches taking place in Des Moines with the Vikings winning 3-2 on Oct. 4 and 3-1 on Nov. 8 in the Heart Championship Tournament.Â
RANKED RAVENS
Benedictine sits at 18-2 overall with a 9-0 record in the Heart. On Wednesday, the first NAIA National Selection Committee (NSC) Top 25 Poll was released and Benedictine earned a No. 25 ranking. Benedictine is No. 22 the RPI Rankings and is ninth in the Midwest ARC Standings. The Midwest ARC consists of four conferences – AMC, GPAC, Heart, and KCAC. Three of the top 10 in the ARC are from the Heart with the other 7 out of the GPAC.
SCOMAZZON HONORED
For the second time in as many weeks, and the third time overall this season, Stefania Scomazzon was named the Heart Women's Volleyball Attacker of the Week on Monday.Â
The Ravens went 2-0 last week. Against Culver-Stockton, Scomazzon finished the match with 10 kills and 5 aces to break the Ravens single-season record for services aces. She followed up Friday with 21 kills and four more aces in the win over St. Ambrose on Saturday.She now has 67 services on the season, breaking the previous record of 59, previous held by Haley Cahill after the 2024 season.For the year, Scomazzon now has 318 kills at an average of 4.3 kills per set and a .340 attack percentage. She leads the NAIA in service aces while she leads the Heart in kills and kills per set.
ABOUT BENEDICTINE
Headed into the weekend, the Ravens are tied for the top spot in the Heart standings with No. 9 Missouri Baptist University. The Ravens sit at 9-0 in the Heart while the Spartans are 11-0 – technically a match ahead of Benedictine in the standings. The Ravens have a two-match lead on the rest of the Heart headed into the weekend. Benedictine is ranked fifth in the Heart in kills (941) at 12.72 kills per set – which is third. Barbara Terra gives the Ravens a second hitter for opponents to focus on. She is currently averaging 3.58 kills per set with a total of 518 kills over 59 sets. With Scomazzon at 4.3 and Terra at 3.58, the Ravens are one-two in the Heart in kills per set. Wren VanCleave is second the Heart in both total assists (761) and assists per set (10.28). Ava Penuel and Kelly DeMeulenaere anchor the back row defense for the Ravens. Penuel leads the team with 3.68 digs per set while DeMeulenaere is at 3.31. Scomazzon, JoJo Vander Woude and Allison Kuebelbeck give the Ravens a strong front-line defense. Vander Woude leads the team with 40 total blocks, followed by Scomazzon with 39 an Kuebelbeck with 36.
ABOUT GRAND VIEW
The Vikings return to the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium for the first time since the 2024 season when the Ravens earned a 3-1 win over the Vikings. The Vikings have lost 2 of the last 3 meetings on the road against the Ravens. The enter the weekend at 10-9 overall with a 5-4 record in the Heart. On the year, they sit at 7-6 away from home with a 3-3 road record. Maria Eduardo do Passos leads the Vikings attack with a 3.22 kills per set average and 193 total kills. Vitoria Gasparini is next at 2.4 kills per set and 115 total kills. Juliana Neves is averaging 7.27 assists per set this year with a total of 429 assists. Grand View is fifth in the Heart in service aces with 147 and a 2.33 per set average. The Vikings are sitting in eighth place in the Heart headed into the weekend. At 5-4, the remaining programs below the Vikings enter the weekend below .500 in Heart play.
ABOUT WILLIAM PENN
Like Grand View, William Penn joined the Heart for the 2015 season. Since then, they have played Benedictine 11 times. The Ravens lead the series 9-2 and the Statesmen are 1-9 over the last 10 with that lone win coming in 2018 in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Headed into the weekend the Vikings are 11-12 overall and 2-7 in the Heart and sit three matches out of eighth place in the Heart Standings. The Statesmen have lost five straight as they travel to Baker tonight and then Benedictine for a 1 p.m. match on Saturday. They are 0-4 away from home, with two of their five straight losses on the road.
UP NEXT
Benedictine takes on William Penn at 1 p.m. Saturday. The match is part of a triple header on campus and will be streamed live at https://www.urbanedgenetwork.net/watch/3188.
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