Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 After two great straight-set wins Friday, the St. Catherine University volleyball team looked as if it was on track for a tournament sweep with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-9) win over Grinnell College to start day two. But despite a tough battle with UW-Platteville, the Wildcats lost 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 27-25) to finish 3-1 at the Loras College Invitational Saturday in Dubuque, Iowa.

"We lost a tight match with UW-Platteville today," said Head Coach Corey Phelps, "but overall it was a very good weekend. This helps us know what we need to work on this week. It was great to be able to get a lot of reserves in during the Grinnell match, and they all played well."

Leading the Wildcats on day two at Loras was Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) who compiled an eight-kill effort in the opener along with two block assists. She added 11 kills in the second match for the team's best performance of the day with 19 kills. The first-year finished the weekend with a team-best 34 kills.

Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) continued to come up big for the Wildcats against Saturday. In the first win over Grinnell, Besch was flawless with six kills for a monster .667 attacking percentage. She also collected two assists, one ace and three digs in the win. Against UW-Platteville, Besch added six kills to finish the tournament with 30 kills for her second consecutive 30-kill tournament performance. Besch was also named to the all-tournament team for the second-consecutive week. 

In the opener, Maddy Mullins (Caledonia) led the Wildcats on multiple fronts with nine kills and two block assists. She hit .381 and added three digs and assist in the win. In the second match of the day, she added two kills, three block assists and a solo block.

Coming off an all-tournament performance last weekend, Abigail Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes),recovered for a strong day two performance with a team-best 12 kills in the loss to UW-Platteville. She also added 12 digs in the match for a double-double performance. She finished the day with 20 digs and two service aces.

In the middle, Zoe Barr (River Falls, Wis.) hit .308 in the opening win with five kills, while Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) added two kills and two blocks. Zeiher then added three kills, three block assists and a solo block in the loss to UW-Platteville.

Ashley Kahlow (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) took on a majority of the setting duties on the day with 21 assists against Grinnell and 19 in the match two loss. She finished the weekend with an impressive 70 assists. Karsee Knutson (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) collected 14 assists in the loss, while newcomer Maria Davis (West St. Paul, Minn./St. Agnes) collected five in her first appearance with the Wildcats.,

Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn./Maple Lake) led the Wildcats defensively Saturday with 21 digs against UW-Platteville and a two day total of 28, while Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) added 17 digs in both matches for a two-day total of 52.

The Wildcats return to non-conference action Wednesday as they head to UW-River Falls for a 7 p.m. match in River Falls, Wis.

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