The St. Catherine University volleyball team has found great success early in the 2015 season and hoped to recover from a slight speed bump in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The Wildcats rebounded with impressive force, though, as they defeated tournament host Ripon College 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 25-20) before taking down St. Nortbert College 3-1 (28-30, 25-23, 25-12, 25-12) Friday in Ripon, Wisconsin.
"We played better than we have all season," said Head Coach
Corey Phelps. "Ripon played well (in the opener) and we wouldn't be denied. (In the second match), St. Norbert took the first set and then we went off with 14 blocks and hit .299 as a team. Our energy and speed of play were outstanding."
The Wildcats competed solidly in a four-set win over host Ripon to start the day with several solid performances.
Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) led the Wildcats' red-hot offense with a season- and match-high 15 kills hitting .345. The senior also contributed to three of the Wildcats' eight blocks.
Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) was also solid recording eight kills, 15 digs and a block assist, while
Amber Zeiher (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) had seven kills and three block assists.
Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) anchored the defense with a match-high 24 digs.
Johna Radke (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) and
Maria Davis (West St. Paul, Minn./St. Agnes) shared responsibilities setting up the offense racking up 22 and 20 assists, respectively.
In the game two battle, the Wildcats had a huge defensive performance with Zeiher matching her career0high seven blocks for the second time in a week. She also added seven kills in the win, while Besch had nine kills and six blocks.
Sabrina Astar (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) was impressive with a team-high 11 kills against St. Norbert and also picked up four block assists for a total of seven on the day.
Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) hit a team best .444 with nine kills, four digs and three block assists, while
Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis./Osceola) had 12 kills on the day to add to the strong performances from several first-year players on the day.
Davis led the offense in the second match with 25 assists and nine digs, while
Hayley Levenhagen (Pewaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial) collected 19 assists and eight digs. Herd again anchored the defense with 24 digs and got solid help from
Shelby Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn./Maple Lake) who tallied 10 digs.
With the wins, the Wildcats improve to 7-3 on the season. The Wildcats are scheduled to return to action at the Ripon Tournament Saturday with matches against Saint Mary's University – a MIAC rematch from Wednesday evening – and University of Wisconsin-River Falls at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., respectively.
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