Box Score The St. Catherine University volleyball team hasn't had an ideal start to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season, but hoped it could pick up its first win in league play against a tough Concordia College squad that entered Wednesday's match with an untainted 4-0 record against conference foes.
 
 Despite improved hitting and all-around performance, the Wildcats couldn't overcome an early deficit in falling 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 18-25, 25-18) to the Cobbers Wednesday evening in Moorhead, Minn.
 
"We played a great match tonight," said Head Coach Corey Phelps. "We had a little late of a start, but came around in the second, won a great third set and had a lead for most of the fourth. Our hitting, defense and serving came back and we took a great step forward tonight."
 
The Wildcats managed to compile their best attacking performance since MIAC play began as they hit a combined .225 as a team and served up their highest ace total with six.
 
After dropping the first two sets to the high-powered Cobber offense, the Wildcats rebounded in the third when they managed to keep the Cobbers close before pulling away to take the set. The Wildcats then jumped out to an early three-point lead in the fourth before allowing the Cobbers to pull back into the set and win the match.
 
Several Wildcats had big performances, but no one outperformed junior setter Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn.) as she fueled the offense with a career-high and match-best 42 assists –  the most by a Wildcat in a single match since 2010. Her 10 digs were the second-most for the Wildcats in the match behind libero Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn.) who recorded 20.
 
Behind Knutson's stellar setting night, Jana Christensen (North Mankato, Minn.) posted a season-high 13 kills to lead the Wildcats hitting, while Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn.) posted her second-best performance of the season hitting .368 with 11 kills.
 
Amber Zeiher (LeSueur, Minn.) was nearly unstoppable in the middle as she knocked down eight kills and had no errors to lead the Wildcats attacking at .444.
 
From the outside, Abigail Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) just missed her fourth double-double performance of the year as she posted 10 kills and nine digs. Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn.) and Marnie Gubash (Blaine, Minn.) each added nine digs and a service ace.
  
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 6-13 on the season and 0-5 in the MIAC. The Wildcats will take a weekend off of competition before hitting the road next Wednesday to take on another winless MIAC team, Carleton College. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Northfield, Minn. 

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