A much-improved St. Catherine University volleyball team has shown all season its capabilities of competing with any team in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Atheltic Conference (MIAC). Coming off a solid weekend of tournament play, the Wildcats had a golden opportunity to wrap up another MIAC win and that's just what they did in downing Macalester College 3-1 (25-15, 25-16, 23-25, 25-15) Wednesday evening at the Leonard Center in St. Paul.
The Wildcats dominated the first two sets as they jumped out to early leads and cruised to a 2-0 lead. In the third set, the Wildcats looked as if they might take the match 3-0 leading 16-6 at one point. The Scots then went on a 14-2 run to climb back into the set and the match before forcing a fourth set. Then, the Wildcats took another early lead before closing out the match for the win.
As a team, the Wildcats hit .209 as opposed to just .065 for the Scots. They also compiled nine service aces and eight blocks, while the Scots had just four in each category.
Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) led the Wildcats with her sixth double-double performance of the season. The sophomore had a match-high 11 kills and contributed 13 digs defensively. She also had one assist and one service ace.
Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) was again a huge presence for the Wildcats hitting .350 for nine kills while adding two solo blocks and two block assists.
Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes) had one of her best performances of the season hitting .538 with eight kills and a match-high 18 digs.
Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) came in to contribute five kills in just two sets, and
Emily Carman (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) made an appearance in the fourth set contributing four kills on just five attempts with one block.
Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) had 17 digs to help the Wildcats defensively and to move to No. 2 all-time at St. Kate's for career digs (1379).
Maria Davis (West St. Paul, Minn./St. Agnes) set up the Wildcat offense with a match-high 18 assists.
Johna Radke (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) added 13 assists in addition to her match-best four aces. She also picked up two kills.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 15-10 overall and 3-6 in the MIAC. They return to tournament action Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater tournament. The first match begins at 5 p.m. against Loras College with a 7 p.m. match scheduled against the hosting No. 9-ranked UW-Whitewater.
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