ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University volleyball team entered the second weekend of the season as a talented team with a lot of promise. As the host of the St. Kate's Volleyball Invite, the Wildcats were hoping to figure out who they are as a team while facing some of the top volleyball programs from the neighboring Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) and National Athletic Collegiate Conference (NACC). St. Kate's did all of that and more on the first day of its home tournament, upsetting Nebraska Wesleyan in the final match of the day in thrilling 3-2 (10-25, 25-17, 25-20, 20-25, 13-15) fashion to highlight the perfect 2-0 day.
"Today, this team showed amazing grit," head coach
Corey Phelps said after the marathon five-set victory. "Nebraska Wesleyan is one of the best teams in this tournament and to comeback and beat them was truly amazing."
Nebraska Wesleyan entered the tournament with a 3-1 record, the second best in the tournament behind Saint Mary's University, and beat Marian University in its opening match in dominating 3-0 fashion. However, the Wildcats were undaunted by the Prairie Wolves, despite falling behind 1-0 after losing the opening set 25-10. St. Kate's battled through the start of the second set, sticking with Nebraska Wesleyan point for point and eventually took the thanks to a 4-0 serving run by senior libero Shanee' Herd (Alexandria, Minn. / Jefferson).
Still, the Prairie Wolves managed to stop Herd's impressive serving run at four points, tying the match at 10 with a kill from Kierra Harder. Then, though,
Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) took matters into her own hands. The first year setter went on the service run of her Wildcat career, helping St. Kate's take a 16-10 lead with a deadly float serve.
After Kisch's run, the Wildcats continued to pressure Nebraska Wesleyan with strong serving through the rest of the second set to eventually win 25-17. With the match knotted at 1-1, St. Kate's looked to win the third set in a similar fashion. Just like in the second set, the Wildcats fell behind 10-6 in the opening points, then roared back to win the set 25-20.
The fourth set didn't go quite as smoothly for St. Kate's. During the second and third matches, the Wildcats held Nebraska Wesleyan to just a .189 team hitting percentage after the Prairie Wolves hit .345 as a team in the first set. Nebraska Wesleyan's offense seemed to find its grove again and forced the decisive fifth set with a 25-20 victory.
The Prairie Wolves dominance continued at the start of the fifth set as the visiting team jumped out to a staggering 6-1 lead through the first seven points.
"Most teams would have folded at that point," Phelps commented, "but this young team showed impressive grit and resilience to fight back, and I couldn't be more impressed."
Fight is exactly what Wildcats did. St. Kate's won eight of the next 11 points, tying Nebraska Wesleyan at 9-9. However, the Wildcats never led until the perfect opportune moment. Palmer tied the game at 13-13 with a kill from the outside then gave St. Kate's its first lead of the set with a tough serve that forced the Nebraska Wesleyan offense out of system. Then, she solidified the 15-13 set five victory in perfect fashion: with an ace.
Plamer, along with teammates
Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) and MacKenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola) led the team in the final match of the night with 13 kills each, while Kisch had a career night of her own with 23 assists and three aces, both career highs.
The win over the Prairie Wolves came just a few hours after St. Kate's impressive 3-1 win over Marian University. That win was highlighted by a program record 17 aces, 10 of which belonged to Herd.
After the two thrilling victories, the Wildcats improve their overall record to 4-2 this season. St. Kate's will return to the court tomorrow when it takes on Central College at 1 p.m. and Crown College at 3 p.m. to close out the 2016 St. Kate's Invite.
