Coming off a much-needed Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win against Macalester College Saturday, it was evident the St. Catherine University volleyball team had found its confidence and used it to put No. 22 Augsburg College back on its heels Wednesday evening. After surrendering the opening two sets to the Auggies, the Wildcats found a way to rebound and take the next two sets before falling in the decisive fifth set in a close 3-2 (25-20, 25-19, 18-25, 23-25, 15-5) loss in Minneapolis.
"We had a monumental effort in the first four sets tonight," said Head Coach
Corey Phelps. "Augsburg made a great adjustment in the fifth and we couldn't adapt quickly enough. I so proud of the fight we had tonight. It really goes to show how well we're playing right now."
In the opening four sets, the Wildcats put together a .279 hitting effort and finished the night with one of their best MIAC performances of the season at .213 collectively. Facing the likely MIAC Champion, the Wildcats managed to play to a fifth set for just the second time all season against a conference opponent.
Despite hitting .318 in the opening set, the Wildcats couldn't slow down the Auggie attack and found themselves facing a deciding third set. But something changed for the Wildcats as they took control with a 12-3 run to go up 17-11. The Auggies rattled off six of the next eight points to make it 19-17, but the Wildcats pulled off a strong finish winning five of the last six points for the set.
In the fourth set, the Wildcats maintained an early lead before allowing the Auggies to take a narrow one-point lead as the set neared its close. Just as it appeared the Wildcats were going to lose at 23-20, the hungry squad recorded five points in the row to force the league-leading Auggies to a fifth set. Unfortunately, the Auggies jumped out to an early lead and never looked back en route to their 9th MIAC win of the season.
For the second match in a row,
Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) had a team-best 16 kills with a solid .275 hitting performance, while
Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) had her best performance of the month with a 12-kill effort, a team-best two service aces, six digs and two block assists.
Senior
Jana Christensen (North Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) continued to be a solid force offensively for the Wildcats tallying eight kills for a .333 hitting performance. She also added two block assists.
Zoe Barr (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) had her best MIAC outing of the season with seven kills and a block assist, while
Abigail Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes) narrowly missed a double-double with nine kills, 14 digs and a block assist.
The Wildcat offense wouldn't have been successful Wednesday evening without the work of
Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) and
Ashley Kahlow (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson). Knutson had a season-high 34 assists and completed her stat line with 10 digs, one kill and a service ace. Fellow senior setter Kahlow recorded 15 assists, 10 digs and three kills for an all-around solid performance.
Defensively,
Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) had a match-high 21 digs.
Two of the league's top players in Ashley Peper and Colleen Ourada recorded double-doubles for the Auggies. Peper tallied 17 kills and 12 digs, while Ourada had 16 kills and 12 digs. Peper also assisted on four of the Auggies' 10 blocks.
The Wildcats return to road action for their final match of the season Friday evening with a 7 p.m. matchup against Hamline University in St. Paul.
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