The Benedictine University men's volleyball team continues its stretch of four consecutive home matches this week. On Friday, the Eagles will host Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 2:00 p.m. in a non-conference match. Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League play resumes for BenU on Sunday when Milwaukee School of Engineering visits the Dan and Ada Rice Center at 1:00 p.m.
Last week, Benedictine (4-8, 2-4) played three MCVL matches and won two of them. On Wednesday, the Eagles headed west to Loras College, defeating the Duhawks in Iowa in straight sets behind a .277 hitting percentage. Mount St. Joseph University, one of the MCVL's top teams, visited the Rice Center on Friday and defeated the Eagles in four sets despite BenU taking set one. The next morning, the Eagles hosted Fontbonne University and recorded another straight-set victory. Benedictine is currently in fifth place in the eight-team MCVL.
Friday: vs. MIT (7-2), 2:00 p.m.
Members of the United Volleyball Conference, the Engineers have been one of the top Division III Volleyball programs over the last decade. MIT has recorded 10 consecutive 20-win seasons and made an NCAA Division III Tournament appearance last season, falling to Endicott College in the First Round.
This season, MIT is off to a 10-2 start and is ranked 11th nationally in the latest Division III AVCA poll. Both of the Engineers' losses have come against tough opponents, as MIT was defeated by Division I Harvard University and third-ranked SUNY-New Paltz. MIT has won two consecutive matches and will play at Endicott on Wednesday before traveling to Lisle on Friday.
Sunday: vs. MSOE (9-8, 1-4), 1:00 p.m.
After a strong start to the season, the Raiders have fallen on hard times. MSOE began the year 8-1, but has lost seven of eight matchups since, including MCVL matches to Mount St. Joseph, Carthage College, Lakeland College, and Dominican University. The recent slide has dropped MSOE to sixth in the MCVL standings and out of the ACVA poll, where MSOE ranked as high as 13th this season.
BenU and MSOE have already met twice this season and are slated to meet twice more in MCVL play. In Milwaukee on January 16, the Raiders defeated the Eagles in four sets on the first day of the season despite committing 10 service errors. Five days later, the two teams met in a triangular at BenU, with MSOE prevailing in five sets despite once again committing far more service errors than the Eagles (25-11). Both matchups were considered non-conference and were not reflected in the MCVL standings.
