The St. Kate's volleyball finished the first half of the formula that will allow them to qualify for the MIAC playoffs. The Wildcats defeated Macalester 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-14) to improve to 18-12 on the season, and 6-5 in conference play. Now they must wait for the outcomes of Saturday's matches to determine if they will get a chance to play in the postseason tournament.
The Wildcats wasted no time in dispatching the Scots. In the first set, SCU built a quick 5-1 lead on Macalester and cruised to 25-15 victory.
The second set started with teams trading points. Then after a Stephanie Meschke kill tied the set at 11-11, the Wildcats scored 14 of the next 20 points to pick up the 25-17 win.
St. Kate's finished off the Scots in the third set amassing a 22-12 lead and winning 25-15. The win wrapped up the team's first winning reagular season and conference record since the 1993 season.
Meschke led the Wildcats with 17 kills and a .467 hitting percentage. Maria Hoffman also reached double figures with 11 kills.
Nina Lindquist picked up 38 set assists in the game, and Nicole Neumann led the team with 16 digs.
St. Kate's is now gauranteed at least a tie for fifth place in the MIAC. What remains to be seen is if that will be enough to qualify the team for the MIAC playoffs (the top six teams qualify). The Wildcats must play the waiting game because there is a log-jam in the 4th-7th place positions in the conference. Coach Hess' squad will qualify for the playoffs if one of the following scenarios occur:
1) St. Mary's loses to Gustavus. The Wildcats would be in with at least the #6 seed (possibly higher depending on the outcome of the other games).
2) St. Mary's and Concordia win and Augsburg loses to St. Thomas, the Wildcats would qualify as the #5 seed.
It is also possible that the Wildcats end up in a four-way tie for fourth in the conference. Unfortunately, if that occurs, their highest potential finishing place would have the cruel irony of meaning they miss the playoffs on tiebreakers. Needless to say, Wildcats volleyball fans should be following the rest of the MIAC action on Saturday October 31 to learn the fate of the team.
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