Coming off a solid win Friday night, the St. Catherine University volleyball team knew it would have to be at its very best facing a Gustvaus Adolphus College squad that had yet to lose a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match this season and was riding an 11-match winning streak. Despite holding several strong leads and fighting the Gusties point-for-point for a majority of the opening two sets, the Wildcats came up just short in a 3-0 (27-25, 28-26, 25-20) loss Saturday in the Butler Center. 

In the opening set, the Wildcats found themselves down early, but they managed to fight back and took a five-point lead they held consistently to 22-17. The Gusties roared back focing extra points before rattling off three-straight points to take a 1-0 lead. 

The second set opened in the same fashion as the first where the Wildcats allowed the Gusties to take four quick points. Eventually, the Wildcats pressured to Gusties and the two teams exchanged point-for-point. The score remained even all the way to 26-26 until the Gusties were finally able to record two-straight kills for the set. 

In the final set, the Wildcats were down 8-2 and looked out of the match completely early on. The Wildcats managed to string together five-consecutive points late in the match to pull within two, but it wasn't enough in suffering their third MIAC loss of the season. 

Alyssa Besch (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) was again the Wildcats' top offensive weapon recording a team high 12 kills. The senior hit a solid .308 and completed her stat line with five digs, two assists and two block assists. 

Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn./Anoka) had one of her best performances of the season recording a team high 24 digs and nine kills with just one hitting error. Sabrina Astar (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) followed up a solid Friday evening performance with nine kills and three blocks including one solo. 

Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson) contributed with a solid 23 digs defensively, while Hayley Levenhagen (Pewaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial) and Maria Davis (West St. Paul, Minn./St. Agnes) set up the offense with 18 and 14 assists, respectively. 

Taylor Trautman led the Gusties with a double-double performance of 15 kills and 11 digs, while Alyssa Taylor also had 15 kills and four blocks. 

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 9-6 on the season and 0-3 on the season. They return to action Wednesday evening for a 7 p.m. matchup against Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. 

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