After a week off of competition, the St. Catherine University volleyball team hoped it could a way to win with a home matchup against a Carleton College squad it defeated in a five-set thriller a year ago. Despite coming out to a strong start and taking the first set, the Wildcats couldn't hold off the Knights who hit progressively better each game en route to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-19) Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win Wednesday evening in the Butler Center. 

"We're playing better volleyball," said Head Coach Corey Phelps. "We are just having difficulty controlling the runs other teams make. Although it's frustrating, we're still working hard and looking to finish strong."

In the opening set, the Wildcats roared out to a 11-5 lead over the Knights, but quickly found themselves facing an early set back when their MIAC opponent climbed back into the match with a 23-19 lead. Fortunately, the Wildcats were able to put together six-straight points to take the first game thanks to a collective .214 hitting effort as a team. 

However, two of the league's top hitters in conference matches in Karen Halls and Lucy Stevens heated up in the second set and eventually combined for 32 of the Knights 52 kills on the night. The Wildcats allowed themselves to get down early in each of the final three sets and never found a way to recover or slow down the Knights' hitters. 

Leading the way offensively for the Wildcats was Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) who had a team-best nine kills and four block assists, while Alyssa Besch also collected nine kills and a block assist. Jana Christensen (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) had eight kills and three block assists to help add to the offense. First-year Tori Peterson (Preston, Minn./Fillmore Central) had one of her best performances of the season with six kills and just two errors for a .286 attacking percentage. 

Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn./Maple Lake) had three of the team's seven service aces and added five kills for a .294 hitting night along with six digs. Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) had a team-best 24 digs defensively, while setter Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) had eight digs in addition to her team-high 26 assists. She also collected two kills for a .400 hitting performance and matched Rachel's three service aces. 

The Wildcats take another weekend off of competition before hitting the road to face Saint Mary's University next Wednesday, Oct. 22, for a 7 p.m. matchup in Winona, Minnesota. 

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