ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University volleyball team entered its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match against the College of Saint Benedict in the best way possible. The Wildcats were riding a two-match win streak, thanks to two wins on the final day of the Macalester Tournament last Saturday. Unfortunately, St. Kate's couldn't keep the momentum going in its conference opener against the Blazers, as the Wildcats fell 3-1 (26-24, 10-25, 18-25, 22-25) despite a late rally in the fourth and final set.

St. Kate's was firing on all cylinders in the opening set of the match, as the team held the usually strong Saint Ben's offense to a .125 hitting percentage and forced 10 Blazer hitting errors. A huge serving run from Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) gave the Wildcats a 6-1 lead to open the match, which was highlighted by kills from Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Bryon) and Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola). However, the Blazers slowly cut away at St. Kate's lead, eventually whittling it down to 9-7. The Wildcats answered, though, with a kill from Breuer and a serving run from Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) extended the home team's lead to 12-7.

A run from Saint Ben's Liz Schultz, though, swung the momentum back in the Blazers direction until the match was tied at 18-18. From that point on, the two teams traded the lead back and forth until St. Kate's took a 25-24 lead after a strong serve from Breuer forced an uncharacteristic hitting error from Schultz. Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) and Peper secured the 26-24 first set win with a huge block, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 set lead.

Unfortunately St. Kate's hit a bit of a speed bump in the second set, losing 25-10. Still, the Wildcats were guaranteed at least two more sets in the match and could easily walk away with another victory. However, serve receive errors and inconsistency on the defensive side of the game led to a 25-18 loss in set three, even though St. Kate's hit .265 as a team. Libby Kreuser compiled five of her eight kills in the third set, but it wasn't enough to lead the Wildcats to victory.

Down 2-1 at the start of the third set, it looked like the Blazers would cruise to victory, as they jumped out to a 20-10 lead. However, this time it was St. Kate's turn to chip away at the lead. Slowly but surely, the Wildcats battled back until it was 22-13 thanks to a kill from Bailey Brownlee (Buffalo, Minn. / Buffalo).

With a new spark, St. Kate's scored the next five points to cut Saint Ben's lead to 23-18. Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) dominated from the service line, as her float serve gave the Blazers Allison Roehl and Bridget McDonald all kinds of trouble and completely disrupted Saint Ben's offense. Eventually, Blazer setter Megan Pekarek ended the run with a kill, but the Wildcats won the next point with a big-time kill from Emily Carman (Maple Grove, Minn. / Osseo).

Emily Neumann (Duluth, Minn. / Hutchinson) entered the game and cut the Saint Ben's lead to 23-20 with a beautiful quick set to Breuer in the middle. Unfortunately, a hitting error on the next play gave the Blazers a 24-20 lead and chance to serve for the match. Another kill from Breuer, though, stopped that chance in its tracks, and a block from Breuer and Peper put the Wildcats within two of Saint Ben's at 24-22. Unfortunately, St. Kate's had no answer for Briana Schmiesing from the middle, resulting in the 25-22 set four loss.

Breuer led the Wildcats in both kills (9) and hitting percentage (.444) in the match, while Schwarzrock added 18 assists and senior Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn. / Kenyon-
Wanamingo) was the top defensive player with 16 digs.

With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 5-5, and the team is 0-1 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to action this upcoming weekend, when they travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to participate in the Coe College Triangular.