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Volleyball splits day two

Day two of the UW-River Falls tournament brought a familiar result for the Wildcats volleyball team, a split. In four days of tournament play to start the season, the Wildcats have earned a split three times. This time they reversed the order, losing game one and winning game two. They dropped game one to Bethel University in three sets (22-25, 22-25, 16-25), then rebounded to defeat UW-River Falls in five sets (25-21, 25-12, 22-25, 20-25,15-11).

Despite not playing their best game of the year, the Wildcats held close to Bethel. Unfortunately, they were unable to put the finishing touches on any of the sets. Losing the first two sets by identical scores of 22-25. In set three the Wildcats never found their rhythm and Bethel seized the opportunity. Closing out the game 25-16.

In game two, St. Kate's came out aggressively and took a commanding two-set lead over tournament host UW-River Falls (UWRF). Set one was a well-contested 25-21 game, but set two was all St. Kate's. The Wildcats used strong play at the net to control the tempo of play, and won convincingly 25-12. UWRF would not go down without a fight, and battled back to tie the game at two sets apiece. The Wildcats came out strong in set five and built a quick 10-5 lead. From there the teams traded points the rest of the way, giving the Wildcats a 15-11 victory. Maria Hoffman was a force the entire game. She finished with an outstanding .342 kill percentage by virtue of her 16 kills on 38 attempts and only three errors. She was frequently the recipient of one of Whitney Sparby's 39 set assist.

When assessing the weekend, Coach Hess praised her young team's continued improvement and looks forward to seeing how much more they can develop as the season progresses. She noted that "We did a lot of good things. We played some very close games and came away with a couple of wins. We still have work to do, but we are making good progress."

The Wildcats finished the weekend 2-2, and they are now 3-5 on the season. They return to action on Wednesday September 10 against UW-Stout.
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