ST. PAUL, MINN. – Statistically, the St. Catherine University volleyball team is one of the youngest teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). Despite their youth, the Wildcats have pushed the top teams in the MIAC to their limits, including defending conference champ Gustavus Adolphus College. However, St. Kate's was still looking for its first MIAC win of the season and was hoping to get it Wednesday night, when it hosted Carleton College at the Butler Center. Unfortunately, the Wildcats late rally came up short, as they fell to the visiting Knights in five sets 3-2 (16-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 8-15).

St. Kate's got off to a slow start in the opening set, both offensively and defensively. The Wildcats had 10 kills in 37 attempts in the first set but also hit nine errors for a hitting percentage of .027. In contrast, Carleton hit .312 in the first set, which helped them to a 16-25 first set win.

The second set went much better for St. Kate's. After shaking off the first set jitters, the Wildcats stayed point for point with the Knights until the very end, when the Knights went on a four point serving run to take a 22-17 lead. St. Kate's managed to cut Carleton's lead to 23-20, but the deficit was a little too much to overcome.

After the 25-20 set two loss, the Wildcats were forced in a position where they would have to win sets three and four in order to win the match. That is exactly what the team did. St. Kate's won the third set 25-16 thanks to a rejuvenated offense and a strong serving game. Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn. / Pequot Lakes), Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace) and Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) all recorded a service ace in the third set, while Kreuser and Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) led the team to a .200 third set hitting percentage in the third set.

With the momentum behind them, the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth set. Again, St. Kate's strong serving game forced the Knights out of system on offense, creating more opportunities for the team to generate offense. However, Carleton did manage to tie the game at 11-11. From that point on, no team was able to lead the set for more than a point until Palmer went on a four point serving run. The senior outside middle hitter helped St. Kate's take a 22-20 lead, but the Knights answered by scoring two quick points of their own to take a 23-22 lead.

A timely kill from Kreuser in the middle and Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Byron) clinched the 25-23 fourth set victory for the Wildcats and sent the match to the fifth set. Despite taking a 6-5 lead, Carleton jumped out to an 11-5 lead on a five point serving run from setter Caroline Duke. St. Kate's tried to cut down the lead, but the gap was too great, as the Wildcats fell 15-8 in the fifth and final set.

Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn. / Jefferson) led St. Kate's defensively with 33 digs in the five set effort, bringing her season total to 435. Flatness was the top hitter with 10 kills, while right side hitter Makenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola) was second with eight.

With the loss, St. Kate's falls to 8-9 overall and is still looking for the elusive first conference win. The Wildcats have a chance to get that Friday evening, when they host Bethel University at 7 p.m. in the Butler Center.