ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University volleyball team has found quite a bit of success at home in recent years. That story is no different this season, as the Wildcats won their home opener last Wednesday 3-0 over Martin Luther.

St. Kate's hope that trend continues tonight, as it hosts the College of Saint Benedict in its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match of 2017. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Butler Center Gym. Students can get in free with their student ID, and tickets are $3 for kids and $7 for adults.

Fans who can't attend the game in person can watch online via tjsports.net. Updates can also be found on St. Kate's official Twitter page (@stkateswildcats).

Here are the five things to know before first serve between St. Kate's and Saint Ben's:

4 – Last season, the Wildcats and Blazers battled in a four set match, which Saint Ben's ultimately won 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 18-25, 26-24). The Wildcats won the first set of the match, thanks to dominant serving and a superb blocking game, but did not have an answer for Blazer middle hitter Briana Schmiesing. Schmiesing hit a career-high 17 kills in the match, while Megan Pekarek tallied 46 assists in the match.  

1^st – St. Kate's currently leads the MIAC in in service aces (74) and aces per set average (2.31). Sophomore Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) is currently second in the conference in aces per set average (.58) while Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace) is sixth with a .48 average.

2^nd - The Wildcats are also second in overall digs (551) this season. Sophomore libero Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) is a big reason for that, with the fifth highest dig total (129) in the MIAC. Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) and Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) both rank in the top-25 in digs as well.

5/8 – St. Kate's and Saint Ben's are two of the top blocking teams in the conference thanks to two of the top blockers in the conference. The Blazers Madison Weiss (20) and the Wildcats Breuer (18) rank No. 5 and 8 in the MIAC in total blocks respectively, while Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) is 11^th with 16 total blocks this season.

44 – Junior right side Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola) was named to the Macalester Invite All-Tournament team after amassing 44 kills in four matches last weekend. Peper was the team's most consistent offensive player over the weekend, hitting well over .200 in each match, and helping the Wildcats go 2-2 at the tournament.