ST. PAUL, MINN. – Typically, Friday the 13^th is associated with bad lucks, curses and a hockey-mask wearing villain named Jason. The St. Catherine University volleyball team avoided all those things, including Jason, Friday evening en route to a dominate 3-0 (25-8, 25-22, 25-16) win over Northland College.

The Wildcats wasted no time taking a lead in the opening set of the match, marching out to a 9-2 lead thanks to a dominant and versatile offensive game. Three different student-athletes scored for St. Kate's in the opening 11 points, including Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola), Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) and Libby Kresuer (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace). Emily Neumann (Duluth, Minn. / Hermantown) also helped the Wildcats take a definitive lead with back-to-back aces, forcing the Lumberjills to take an early time out.

Although Northland managed to win the next point, St. Kate's got right back on track with a kill from Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Byron) and proceeded to win eight of the next 13 points to jump ahead 19-5.

The Wildcats went on to take the first set 25-8 and looked just as dominant to open the second. Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) connected with Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) in the opening point to set an early tone. However, the Lumberjills hung around in the opening points of the set and even took a 6-4 lead over St. Kate's early on.

Strong serving, though, swung the moment back in the Wildcats favor, as Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) and Brooke Beuning (New London, Minn. / New London-Spicer) both had big runs for St. Kate's. Beuning came off the bench and tallied three consecutive service aces to put the Wildcats ahead 14-8 after Northland cut the lead back down to a single point.

St. Kate's hit a bit of a road block on serve receive, though, and the Lumberjills found their way back into the set. The two teams battled in to the 20s and were knotted at 22 in the latter stages of the set. However, the Wildcats rattled off three straight points on kills from Flatness and Beuning to win the second set 25-22.

After the tight second set, St. Kate's made quick work of the third, winning 25-16, again in dominating fashion. Nelson and sophomore middle blocker Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) each earned three kills in the set to lead the Wildcats offensive attack. Kisch and Neumann each added two more aces to their resumes, and St. Kate's cruised to a three set sweep with the 25-16 victory.

Peper led all hitters with six kills in the match and guided the team to a .426 hitting percentage in the first set alone. Breuer dominated on the blocking side of the game with two solo blocks and an assist, while Schwarzrock guided the offense with 21 assists. Kisch was the top defensive player with 11 digs.

With the win, the Wildcats overall record improved to 9-12, and the team has a 1-6 mark in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play. St. Kate's will take Saturday off before returning to the court on Friday, October 20 when it hosts Carleton College at 7 p.m.