RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The UW-River Falls volleyball team fell 3-1 against the College of Saint Benedict on Saturday afternoon at Page Arena.
 
The Falcons, now 8-9 overall, set a four-set season-high with 44 assists, with 40 coming from setter Haley Cuba. 
 
Saint Benedict took a 2-0 lead before the Falcons responded well with a 25-16 third set win. However, CSB prevailed in the fourth set, 25-21 to earn the road win.
 
The first two frames were competitive, featuring extras in the first set and a two-point margin of victory in the second stanza.
 
Both teams had their best hitting numbers in the first set, with the Bennies attacking at a rate of .311 and the Falcons at .239. 11 lead changes led to a back-and-forth set, with CSB closing out with three consecutive kills to win 28-26.
 
Point swings carried into the second set with several lead changes. Saint Ben's forced eight Falcon errors and took a 2-0 lead with a 25-23 set win.
 
UWRF recorded a .270 attack percentage in the third set. After four-straight points gave the home team a 17-12 lead, the Falcons maintained an advantage for the remainder of the set to trim the Bennie lead to 2-1.
 
The Falcons, led by an attack from Sami Hilley and Kameri Meredith, earned an 11-8 lead in the fourth set on a five-point run. However, CSB stuck with UWRF and closed out set and match on a 17-10 run.

Hilley led UW-River Falls with efficient attacking numbers, hitting .423 with 14 kills. Meredith also added 14 kills and Brooke Voigt paced the defense with 21 digs.
 
UW-River Falls heads back into its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) schedule next Friday, Oct. 1 at UW-Whitewater.