Box Score After opening the early part of the season with eight solid wins to match its total from a year ago, the St. Catherine University volleyball team hoped it continue to use that momentum in the opening match of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season. Unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn't find a way to maintain the lead and close out sets in suffering a 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18) to Gustavus Adolphus College Wednesday evening in St. Peter, Minnesota.

"We were our own worst enemy tonight," said Head Coach Corey Phelps. "Giving them half their points on our errors will never get us wins. We had moments of great play thoughout the match, but we weren't disciplined enough."

The Wildcats turned in a less than ideal first set hitting, but battled back to string together several runs of solid play for a second set win to even the score at one set each. They then started to build on the second-set success taking a four point lead in the third set. The Wildcats then allowed the Gusties eight-straight points before falling 25-21. In a decisive fourth set, the Wildcats were down by seven points and managed to pull within two to put pressure on the Gusties but couldn't close out the match in falling 3-1 to open conference play. 

As a team, the Wildcats hit just .069, but Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) and Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) had spectacular outings hitting over .300 each and tallying double-digit kill totals. Besch collected a career, season, match and team-best 17 kills, while Lindenfelser recorded 13 kills, nine digs and a block assist. 

Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) was involved in all three Wildcat blocks on the night and also tallied five kills and two assists, while Jana Christensen (Mankato, Minn./Mankato North) had five kills and a block assist. 

Defensively, Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) kept the Wildcats alive in many circumstances with a team-high and match-high 23 digs, while Abigail Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes) added seven digs. 

Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) and Ashley Kahlow (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) combined to set up the Wildcat offense with 25 and 16 assists, respectively. Knutson also tallied two aces and six digs, while Kahlow had the only other Wildcat ace as well as nine digs. 

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 8-6 on the season and 0-1 in MIAC play. They return to action as they host the St. Kate's Invite this weekend with matches Friday against Loras College and Grinnell College 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., before facing UW-Stout at 11 a.m. Saturday. 

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