Box Score Box Score
After dropping its last three matches in five sets each, the St. Catherine University volleyball team was hoping to finally come away with a win heading into a tough Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) contest against Augsburg Wednesday evening.
 
In what seems to be a bit of a trend, Augsburg forced the Wildcats into another five-set marathon. But this time, the Wildcats finally came out on the winning end as they used a .333 team hitting percentage in the fifth set to defeat the Auggies 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 15-10).
 
After dropping a very competitive first set to Augsburg, the Wildcats came out and took command of the second and went up 22-10 at one point. The Wildcats cruised to a 25-17 victory and used that momentum to fight through a tough, hard-fought third set to go up 2-1 on the night.
 
The Auggies found a way to fight back, though, and force the Wildcats into their fourth-straight five-set match. The Wildcats took command of the fifth early and went up 11-4 before finally finishing off a tough Augsburg squad 15-10.
 
On their way to victory, the Wildcats had one of their best outings of the season as they recorded a season-high 13 service aces to finish off the Auggies. 
 
Several Wildcats had huge performance in helping lift the team to an 8-8 overall and 2-2 in the MIAC. Stephanie Meschke (Faribault, Minn.) led the offensive attack for the Wildcats with 17 kills and three service aces. Defensively, she chipped in 16 digs and two block assists.
 
Fellow senior Marie O'Neil (St. Michael, Minn.) followed right behind Meschke with 12 kills, hit .333 on the night. O'Neil also led the team in blocking (3) and chipped in one dig.
 
Sophomore Zoe Peterson (Rosemount, Minn.) led the team in attacking percentage (.357), while first-year Amber Zeiher (LeSueur, Minn.) hit .333 and recorded nine kills, three digs and a block assist.
 
Ashley Kahlow (LeSueur, Minn.) dished out 30 assists in the Wildcat win, while Jordyn Wentland (Blaine, Minn.) had 22 on the evening.
 
Senior Nicole Pothen (Faribault, Minn.) recorded a match-high 22 digs, while Kelsey Wirtanen (Hibbing, Minn.) recorded 20.
 
The Wildcats return to action Saturday, as they travel across town to taken on the No. 7 ranked Tommies of St. Thomas at 3 p.m.
 
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