The St. Catherine University volleyball team has become accustomed to battling its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opponents in long, competitive sets and knew it would likely be a similar story against an Augsburg College squad that recently fell from the national rankings. Despite taking the first set and nearly claiming the second, the Wildcats couldn't hold on in falling to the Auggies 3-1 (26-28, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17) Wednesday evening in the Butler Center. 

"We came out strong in the first set, but stopped competing after we got down 2-1," said Head Coach Corey Phelps. "We're much better than what we played tonight. We're improving, but we need to do it quicker. We aren't making changes and adjustments quickly enough in our matches. The conference is wide open at this point, and we need to get back to playing the way we're capable of."

The first set opened up with exchange of points between the two teams until the Wildcats managed to go on a 6-1 run to take a 14-8 lead early. The Wildcats held that six-point lead until the Auggies managed to pull within three. Down 20-17, the Auggies then went on a 4-0 run to gain the lead 21-20. Each team had chances at taking the match, but eventually the Wildcats strung two points together to take the set 28-26. 

The Wildcats found themselves in a hole early, down 9-3 before managing to climb back into the set to tie it at 11-11. The Auggies began to pull away, but allowed the Wildcats to comeback and make the set interesting at 23-23 before taking the final two points to even the score at 1-1. 

In the third, the Wildcats allowed the Auggies to climb out to a dominating 11-4 lead. Despite their best effort, the Wildcats couldn't get close enough to recover and fell 2-1 in the match before dropping the fourth set and the match. 

Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) and Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis./Osceola) led the Wildcats offensively with each recording 10 kills – a career-high for first-year Peper. Zeiher hit a team-high .375 with two assists, one dig, a solo block and a block assist. 

Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) recorded nine kills, while Sabrina Astar (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) and Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) contributed with six and five kills, respectively. Lindenfelser also helped on a block and had a match-high 21 digs. 

In addition to Lindenfelser's defense, the Wildcats got 19 digs from junior libero Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) and 15 from Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn./Pequot Lakes). Maria Davis (West St. Paul, Minn./St. Agnes) recorded a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs, while first-year Hayley Levenhagen (Pewaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial) set up the offense with a team-high 21 assists. 

For the Auggies, Ashley Peper tallied a double-double with a match-high 18 kills and added 17 digs. She also hit .326. Taylor Linn also had 11 kills with Macey Terhell recording a team-high 21 digs. 

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 10-8 on the season and 1-5 in the MIAC. They return to action Saturday facing No. 22 College of Saint Benedict for a 3 p.m. match in St. Joseph, Minnesota. 

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