In a critical MIAC match-up the St. Kate's volleyball team swept Augsburg 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-22) to improve to 17-10 and 5-3 in MIAC play. The Wildcats and Auggies are now part of a three-way tie for fourth in the conference standings with three games remaining in the regular season. 

The first set was a close  in the early going. After St. Kate's had grabbed an 11-6 lead Augsburg fought back to within one at 12-11. From there though the Wildcats went on a tear. Coach Hess' squad out scored the Auggies 13-5 the rest of the way to pick up the 25-16 set one victory.

St. Kate's carried that momentum into the second set as they stormed out to an 11-2 lead. From there, they weathered an Augsburg rally before going on to win 25-22 to take the 2-0 advantage.

With each team now having a good grasp on how they were attacking each other, the third set proved to be the closest battle of the night. There were 11 ties in the third set alone.  The last one being at 22-22 before St. Kate's picked up the final three points of the set to win by an identical 25-22 margin.

Racquel Reker and Marie Hoffman led the Wildcats offensive attack with 12 kills each. Reker hit an outstanding .545 for the match.

Defensively Nicole Neumann and Nicole Pothen led the team with 14 and 12 digs, respectively. 
The Wildcats 17 wins are the most since the 1993 season when the team went 21-18.

The Wildcats out hit the Auggies .222 to .147 on the night. St. Kate's also had 10 team blocks, four service aces and only  13 errors while holding Augsburg to seven team blocks and forcing Augsburg into 31 errors.
 
With three games remaining, the Wildcats are in a three-way tie for fourth in the conference with Concordia, Augsburg. St. Mary's is just behind the teams at 4-3.  Those four teams are vying for three spots in the MIAC post season tournament.

St. Kate's returns home to host St. Thomas on Friday October 23rd at 7:00 pm in the Butler Center gym.

Box Score