Coming off a strong day last Saturday, the St. Catherine University volleyball team had an opportunity to close out the 2015 season with consecutive matches on their home court against struggling Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) teams. Despite out-performing St. Olaf College in enarly every category, the Wildcats could overcome a few critical errors in falling 3-1 (25-20, 12-25, 25-20, 25-20) to the Oles Wednesday evening in the Butler Center. 

The Wildcats held a 48-39 advantage over the Oles in kills and tallied 10 aces as compared to just five for the Oles. The combination of 27 hitting errors and 11 serving errors and five ball-handling errors proved to be the difference in the match. 

In the opening set, the Oles used a 5-0 run early to take a 10-5 lead and didn't allow the Wildcats much room to come back. However, the Wildcats stormed back with a commanding win in the second set to even the match at one set a piece. The third set started off with consistent back-and-forth play until the Oles went on another 5-0 run to take a 19-15 lead and never looked back. 

Down 2-1 in the match, the Wildcats came out flat int he fourth set giving up the first five points to the Oles. Slowly, the Wildcats tried to fight their way back in but the Oles looked to be on cruise control leading 21-11. However, the Wildcats looked as if they might pull off a comeback going on a 9-2 run to pull within three. The Oles managed to take the next two to earn their first MAIC win of the season and hand the Wildcats a tough loss. 

Leading the way offensively for the Wildcats was Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) who compiled a team-high 10 kills and contributed on three of teh Wildcats' five blocks. The senior also hit .240 and one service ace. Sabrina Astar (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) was also strong for the Wildcats with nine kills and two blocks. 

Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) continued to be the Wildcats' most valuable asset defensively pulling up a match-high 37 digs that is her second-highest total of the season. Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) was also solid defensively with 18 digs and chipped in eight kills and two aces, while Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes) had 16 digs and five kills. 

Maria Davis (West St. Paul, Minn./St. Agnes) set up the offense with a team-high 22 assists, while Hayley Levenhagen (Pewaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial) added 18. Davis also led the match with three aces. 

For the Oles, Alison Curry had a match-best 12 kills and three block assists, while Abby Carpenter had nine kills and 11 digs.

With the loss, the wildcats fall to 17-13 on the season and 3-7 in the MIAC. They will close out the season Friday with a 7 p.m. MIAC match against Hamline University. 

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