ST. PAUL, MINN. – To say the St. Catherine University volleyball team is on a hot streak may be a gross understatement. After struggling through the past few weeks, the Wildcats seem to have finally hit their stride as they won their second straight match Saturday afternoon 3-0 (25-23, 25-25-15, 25-18) over Macalester College.
St. Kate's was absolutely dominate in its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win of the season. The Wildcats outhit the Scots in every way, compiling 36 kills and a .208 hitting percentage in the victory. St. Kate's also compiled 34 assists, 49 digs and nine blocks en route to its second sweep of the weekend.
The first set win wasn't easy for the Wildcats, though. St. Kate's had to battle for every single point in the opening set and initially didn't have an answer for Macalester's top hitter Clara Baumann. In fact, the Scots led by as many as four points, including a 17-13 advantage in the latter stages of the set. However, the Wildcats certainly weren't out of the set, especially with some of the top servers in the MIAC set to serve the upcoming points.
Like it has been all season, St. Kate's serve put the team right back in the match, as
Emily Neumann (Duluth, Minn. / Hermantown) and
Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Byron) both went on multi-point runs to tie the match at 19-19. From that point on, the two teams traded points until the Wildcats took its first lead since the opening points at 22-21 on a kill from
Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake). The Scots did manage to tie the set at 22-22 and 23-23, but a kill and block from
Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) on back-to-back points helped St. Kate's take the opening set 25-23.
The Wildcats set the tone early in the second set, as
Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) went on a seven point serving run to open the set, giving St. Kate's a nice 7-0 lead. While Macalester eventually did manage to score a point, the Wildcats never let the home team get within three of its lead. In addition to Schwarzrock,
Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) went on a serving run to extend St. Kate's lead to 17-7. Again, the Scots did manage to win a few more points, but not enough to beat the Wildcats, as they went on to win set two 25-15.
St. Kate's was just as dominant in set three as it was in the other two sets.
Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola), Nelson and Flatness each had multi-kill performances in the set, while Flatness also played a role in three of the Wildcats four blocks in the set. The serving continued to be the staple of the Wildcats game plan, and
Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, MInn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) closed the set, and the match, with an ace to secure the 25-18 victory.
Peper led the team in kills for the fourth consecutive match, compiling eight over the course of three sets.
Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace) added seven while Flatness and Nelson each had six. Schwarzrock tallied 19 assists, while Nelson defensively compiled 11 digs.
With the win, the St. Kate's overall record improves to 8-11, and the team is now 1-5 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to the court on Tuesday, when they travel to Northfield, Minnesota to play St. Olaf College at 7 p.m.
