ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University volleyball team entered Wednesday evening's match against the University of Wisconsin-Superior with two things on its mind. The Wildcats were hoping to snap its five-match losing streak and earn a big time nonconference win over the Yellowjackets. Unfortunately, neither of those things happened, as St. Kate's fell to UW-Superior 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 22-25).

Despite the outcome, the Wildcats and Yellowjackets battled for three sets, making the match feel and seem much longer than it actually was. After dropping the first set 17-25, St. Kate's made quite the statement to open the second match, as Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn./ Hutchinson) scored a big-time ace to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Schwarzrock looked to be on her way to her second ace of the set, when a UW-Superior injury wiped the point and forced a lengthy timeout.

The timeout stifled St. Kate's momentum, but the Wildcats and Yellowjackets traded the lead for the next 10 points. Eventually, UW-Superior took a 10-6 lead thanks to kills from Brylee Colligan and a service ace by Karlie Leif.

St. Kate's wasn't down and out for the count, though, and the team slowly but surely chipped away at the Yellowjackets lead. However, the Wildcats were never able to get within four of the lead, and UW-Superior went ahead 24-19, with five chances to win the set. That was when St. Kate's came to life. Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Byron) sparked the Wildcats rally with a big kill from the outside before another dominant serving run from Schwarzrock cut the Yellowjackets lead to 24-23.

Unfortunately, the good thing did come to an end for St. Kate's on the next point. After a Schwarzrock ace forced UW-Superior to call a timeout, the Wildcats tried to come back and even the score at 24-24. Sadly, an attack error by Nelson ended the set, as the Yellowjackets went on to win 25-23.

After a hard fought second set, St. Kate's was ready to force a fourth and maybe a fifth with a win in set three. Just like in the second set, the Wildcats jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back kills from Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola). However, like in the second set, UW-Superior closed the two-point gap early and the two teams traded points for the majority of the set.

Neither team was able to truly take a definitive lead until a serving run by Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) put St. Kate's ahead 19-16 in the latter stages of the set. The Yellowjackets closed the gap again, though, winning five of the next seven points to take a 21-20 lead after forcing an attack error by Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran). Just like before, though, the Wildcats showed resiliency, as another kill from Peper evened the score at 21-21.

UW-Superior's serving game, though, was too much. After Peper's kill, the Yellowjackets won three straight points to jump ahead 24-21. Again, St. Kate's managed to hold off one set point thanks to a kill from Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) on the outside. On the ensuing play, a kill by Superior's Mara Cameron gave the Yellowjackets the 25-22 third set victory, allowing them to win the match 3-0.

Peper led the team with 12 kills total while Breuer and Nelson each added six. Schwarzrock was the team's leading setting with 23 assists, while Nelson tallied 20 digs from the back row.

With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 6-11 and the team has a 0-5 mark in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play. The Wildcats will take on conference foe Macalester Saturday afternoon on the road at 3 p.m.