ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University volleyball team entered its match against the University of St. Thomas with one goal in mind: to win the team's first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match of the season. Unfortunately, the Wildcats suffered a minor setback in their quest Wednesday night. Despite strong serving and tough defensive play, St. Kate's lost to rival St. Thomas in straight sets 15-25, 15-25, 11-25.

"It was progress," Corey Phelps, head coach of St. Kate's, said after the match. "We're still a young team that's learning, and tonight was definitely a step in the right direction."

At the beginning of the match, the Wildcats were able to hold their own with the Tommies, matching the home team point-for-point through the first 16 points of the match. Even when St. Thomas started to pull ahead, St. Kate's serve would put them right back in the match. Early aces from Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn. / Jefferson) and Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn. / Pequot Lakes) kept the Wildcats within striking distance of the Tommies. Even when the team wasn't serving aces, St. Kate's was able to keep St. Thomas on its toes on serve receive and create multiple offensive opportunities.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on those opportunities late in the first set. The two teams were deadlocked at eight before the Tommies went on a five point serving run and pushed their lead to 16-10 midway through the first set. The Wildcats tried to battle back, eventually cutting the score to 21-15, but it was too late. St. Thomas went on to win the first set 25-15.

St. Kate's looked to brush the first set loss with a win in set two, much like it did in 2015. Last season, the Wildcats stormed back to take set two 25-23 despite the Tommies 20-25 first set victory. St. Kate's fought St. Thomas for every point, going so far as to save three set points, but history was not to repeat itself. The Tommies took the second set 25-15, putting St. Kate's in a 2-0 hole after the first two sets.

Again, the Wildcats were not to be deterred despite being down two sets to none. St. Kate's showed its determination by winning the first point of the third set. With St. Thomas' Madie Kroehler at the line, the Wildcats perfect pass on serve receive set up an outside kill by Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola). Just like that, St. Kate's found itself ahead 1-0 with Palmer at the line.

Palmer's serve forced the Tommies out of system but St. Thomas managed to come away with the point with a kill from Grace Duffy. After that, much like the first two sets, the back and forth between the two teams resumed. The Wildcats never allowed the Tommies to jump out to a big lead and only trailed 9-7 after the first 16 points. However,
St. Thomas slowly started to build its lead with its own serving runs, eventually winning the set 25-10.

Herd continued to lead St. Kate's on defense with her 11^th 20-plus dig performance of the year. The libero compiled 20 digs in the three set effort with one ace from behind the service line.

Peper and Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) led the team with seven kills while first year Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Minn. / Elk Mound) led the team in hitting percentage by hitting .308 from the middle.

With the St. Thomas match behind them, the Wildcats can now focus on their next MIAC opponent: Gustavus Adolphus College. The Gusties are the reigning MIAC Regular season and Postseason champions after taking the conference by surprise in 2015. St. Kate's will look to dethrone the reigning champs Saturday afternoon in St. Peter, Minnesota. First serve is scheduled for 3 p.m.