Heading into its final home game of the season, the St. Catherine University volleyball team was optimistic it could find a way to its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win of the season against a Macalester College squad that was also searching for a conference victory and had only claimed one set against a MIAC opponent this season. The Wildcats grinded out a win thanks to the big play of their seniors in a 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-12, 28-26) decision over the Scots Saturday afternoon in the Butler Center. 

"I'm happy to get the monkey off our back," said Head Coach Corey Phelps. "There are still improvements to be made. We're looking forward to the challenge we have on Wednesday (facing Augsburg College). I'm very happy the seniors finished their home careers on a high note." 

The Wildcats used a huge service day with 12 aces – with seven coming from their senior-setting duo of Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) and Ashley Kahlow (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) – to gain advantages over Macalester when they needed it the most and managed to grind out the final set of points late in the match to hold off the Scots. 

The Scots opened up the match with four straight points thanks to three-consecutive aces from Brooke Hunter to take an early lead. The Wildcats then battled back to even the score at 4-4 a side. The two teams exchanged runs with the Wildcats holding as much as a seven-point lead before finally taking the first set. 

However, Macalester wasn't ready to give up as the strung together several short runs in a row after Wildcat mistakes to even the match at one a piece. The Wildcats responded with dominance in the fourth set to claim a 2-1 lead. The used two runs of four-straight points and one of five before putting together eight in a row to take the advantage into the fourth set. 

The Wildcats battled Macalester early, but the Scots weren't ready to give up. With a 21-16 lead, the Wildcats allowed the Scots to take four-straight points to even the score. On match point 24-22 in favor of the Wildcats, the Scots continued to battle and stay alive until the Wildcats finally claimed a much-awaite victory with a 28-26 win. 

Knutson and Kahlow fueled the successful Wildcat offense with 22 and 12 assists, respectively. Knutson had a match-high four aces, while Kahlow added three of her own to move within two aces of tying the school record for career aces (130 - Callie Tiegen). Knutson also kept the Wildcats alive on several plays with nine digs, while Kahlow added six. 

After leading the Wildcats with her season-best performance Wednesday evening, senior Jana Christensen (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) put her best on the court for her final match on home turf with a 13-kill performance. She hit .308 with three digs and a block assist to complete her stat line. 

Megan Lindengfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) helped send the Wildcat seniors off with a match-high 16 kills and a monster .452 hitting percentage. The first-year tallied her first double-double performance of the season by adding a team-best 11 digs on the day. She also helped up front with a block assist on one of the team's six blocks. 

Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) contributed all-around Saturday collecting three block assists to lead the team as well as six kills, five assists and two digs. 

Defensively, Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) had nine digs and Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn./Maple Lake) had seven. Each served up an ace with Rachel adding two kills. Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) also had seven assists in the victory. 

The Wildcats close out the season next week with road games at Augsburg Wednesday evening in Minneapolis, before concluding Friday at Hamline University in St. Paul. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. 

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