ST. PAUL, MINN. – To say the St. Catherine University volleyball team enjoyed day one of its home tournament may be a gross understatement. The Wildcats went 2-0 on the first day of the St. Kate's Invite, highlighted by a thrilling 3-2 (10-25, 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13) come-from-behind win over Nebraska Wesleyan. The momentum from day one carried over to day two as St. Kate's went 2-0 with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 22-25, 25-19) win over Central College and a 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-11) win over Crown College.

"It was a good weekend," head coach Corey Phelps said after the tournament. "We took steps forward and learned a lot as a team."

The Wildcats opened the day with a 3-1 win over the Central Dutch. Thanks to a stifling defense, St. Kate's held Central to a negative team hitting percentage in the first set, forcing nine Dutch errors while surrendering only eight kills. The Wildcats in turn hit .296 as a team in the opening 25-16 victory with 12 kills, half of them coming from outside hitters Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn. / Pequot Lakes) and Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake).

St. Kate's serve was also strong throughout the rest of the match. Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo), Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall), and Johna Radke (Musekgo, Wis. / Musekgo) all had multipoint service runs in the second set, which helped the Wildcats take a 17-13 lead midway through the set. Timely kills from Palmer and Baker and outstanding defensive play from libero Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn. / Jefferson) also helped St. Kate's to a 25-18 set two win.

Central claimed the second set 25-22, but the Wildcats were not about to let the match be determined by a fifth set.  Despite falling behind 6-3 in the second set, St. Kate's was able to close the gap and eventually take the lead over the Dutch with serving runs from Radke, Auseth, and Herd. However, it was the serve of Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace) that gave St. Kate's a lead it would never relinquish. Kreuser went on a 5-0 serving run to give the Wildcats a 22-16 lead, which eventually turned into a 25-19 fourth set victory.

With the match against Central behind them, St. Kate's focused on its next opponent: Crown College. The upstart Storm had already played several tough matches against other teams in the tournament and were looking for their first win of the season against the Wildcats. However, St. Kate's stomped out any thoughts of a potential loss, as the team jumped out to a quick 12-1 lead behind a nine point serving run from Herd. After that, the Wildcats dominated the entire first set, winning 25-10 to take a 1-0 led in the match.

Crown was not going to make things easy for the Wildcats in the second and third sets of the match. The Storm quietly chipped away at every lead St. Kate's took in the second set, but eventually, the Wildcat offense took over and dominated just like it did in the first set. Auseth collected six kills of her own in the second set to lead St. Kate's to a 25-18 second set victory. The Wildcats then went on to win set three 25-11, securing the 3-0 sweep of Crown.

Palmer was the top Wildcat hitter in both matches with 18 kills against Central. Baker was close behind with 15 kills against the Dutch, while Sarah Mullen (Oakdale, Minn. / North) was the top hitter for St. Kate's against the Storm. Mullen compiled eight kills in the second match of the day while Auseth was second with seven.

Herd was the top defensive player for the Wildcats, not just on day two, but in the whole tournament as well. The senior libero racked up 27 digs against Central and 20 against Crown, bringing her day two total to 47. Herd finished the tournament with 92 digs, bringing her season total to 174.

With conference play just around the corner, St. Kate's improves its overall record to 6-2 after Saturday afternoon's victories. The Wildcats will return to the court next Wednesday when they play Saint Mary's University in the first conference match of the season. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Butler Center.