After falling to UW-River Falls 3-1 on Saturday, the St. Catherine University volleyball team looked to turn the tables on a Falcon squad that entered the Wildcat home opener with an impressive 7-1 record. Unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn't overcome a poor hitting performance in a 3-1 (20-25, 14-25, 29-27, 25-16) loss Wednesday evening at the Butler Center in St. Paul.
 
The match opened with competitive back-and-forth play in the first set that saw eight lead changes and 15 tied scores. The Falcons managed to put the Wildcats away with four-straight points to win the first set before commanding control of the second set to go up 2-0.
 
The Wildcats clawed their way back into the match as they took a 6-1 lead early in the third, but later saw themselves down by as many as six points later in the set. However, the Wildcats managed to gain momentum to take the third set and force a fourth. Unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn't sustain that and now fall to 4-6 on the season.
 
Despite a rough night hitting, several Wildcats had impressive performances . Sophomore Alyssa Besch (Lakeville, Minn.) led the team with eight kills and three block assists, while setter Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn.) dished out a team-high 12 assists and three service aces.
 
Setter Ashley Kahlow (LeSueur, Minn.) split setting duties with Knutson for a total of 10 assists and also served up three aces.
 
Defensively, Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn.) led the Wildcats with 17 digs, while libero Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn.) was just behind with 16.
 
The Falcons had two players with double-double performances as Brianna Muetzel had a match-high 15 kills and 18 digs and Hali Tasler had 10 kills and 18 digs.
 
The Wildcats return to action in their home tournament – the St. Kate's Invite – this weekend. Friday, the Wildcats take on Crown College and UW-Stout at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, before facing Loras College Saturday 11 a.m. and UW-Superior at 1 p.m.
 
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