The St. Catherine University volleyball team ended their final two sets against the University of St. Thomas Wednesday with power and momentum it hoped would carry over into its next Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match against Bethel University. Unfortunately, that momentum only lasted for one set as the Wildcats fell 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-16) to the Royals at home Saturday in St. Paul. 

The Wildcats came out and competed point-for-point with the Royals in the first set hitting .265 but were just edged out by the Royals. In the second set, the Wildcats couldn't maintain their strong hitting as they hit below .100 in the final two sets before eventually suffering a 3-0 loss. 

Abigail Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes) led the attack for the Wildcats with her third double-double performance of the season of 10 kills and 11 digs. She committed just three hitting errors while also adding an assist and a block assist. 

Jana Christensen (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) reocrded six kills, three digs and two block assists, while Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) had five kills, three digs and a block assist. Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) helped on four of the Wildcats' six blocks with one solo and one assist. 

Ashley Kahlow (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) and Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) both picked up 13 assists to fuel the Wildcat offense. Kahlow helped defensively with seven digs and Knutson added to the offense with two kills. 

Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) and Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn./Maple Lake) joined Palmer in the defensive efforts with 17 and 11 digs, respectively. 

One of the league's top hitters in Kristin Stern led the Royals with 13 kills, while Katie Lubben had 42 assists and Kali Johnson had 19 digs and seven kills. 

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