ST. PAUL, MINN. – All season long, the St. Catherine University volleyball team has battled and pushed the top teams in the region and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). After a tough loss to Bethel University on Wednesday, St. Kate's was hoping to rebound and earn its first conference win of the season on Saturday against Saint Mary's University. Although the Wildcats outplayed the Cardinals in every facet of the game, their comeback came up short in a 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 12-15) MIAC loss.

St. Kate's blocking and serving game dominated the match, as the Wildcats tallied nine aces and 14 blocks over the course of five sets. The team also scored more points overall than Saint Mary's and held the Cardinals top offensive threat, junior outside Brandi Blattner, to a .089 hitting percentage during the match. However, inconsistencies on serve receive led to a 25-23 first set loss, despite the fact St. Kate's battled its way back from a 6-1 deficit midway through the set.

After the tough opening set loss, the Wildcats hoped to rebound with a second set victory. Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) opened the set with back-to-back service aces to give St. Kate's a quick 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, Saint Mary's was on fire both offensively and defensively and jumped out to a 17-9 lead thanks to a serving run by Blattner. The Wildcats managed to cut the lead to 17-12, but the damage was already done as the Cardinals cruised to a 25-18 second set victory.

Down 2-0 after the first two sets, St. Kate's showed resiliency in the third set, forcing a fourth with a 25-21 win. Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola) set the tone with a monster kill to open the set before Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Byron) went on a seven point serving run to give the Wildcats an 8-0 lead. While Saint Mary's did eventually manage to score a few points, St. Kate's serve proved too powerful, as the team pushed its lead to 17-7 with kills from Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) and Emily Carman (Maple Grove, Minn. / Osseo) and a serving run from Emily Neumann (Duluth, Minn. / Hermantown).

The Cardinals did go on a run of their own toward the end of the set, as Blattner rattled off three straight kills to cut the Wildcats lead to 23-20. Peper, though, stopped the bleeding with another big kill before a block from Carman and Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) closed out the 25-21 win for St. Kate's.

Set four once again went in the Wildcats favor thanks to dominant all-around play. St. Kate's forced Saint Mary's to play out of system with strong serves, but it was the defensive play that shined in the fourth set. The Wildcats scrappy play on defense, especially by sophomore libero Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall), extended several plays and helped the team take a 15-14 lead. Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) then went on a four point serving run, and St. Kate's eventually won the fourth set 25-18.

The momentum seemingly swung in the Wildcats favor at the start of the fifth and final set, as Breuer guided the team to a 5-1 advantage with another strong serving game. However, the Cardinals battled back and tied the set at 7-7 after a controversial lift call was made on Kisch. Saint Mary's eventually jumped ahead 13-8, as the Cardinals took advantage of St. Kate's errors to take the five point lead.

However, the Wildcats weren't down for the count yet. After Saint Mary's went up 14-10, St. Kate's scored back-to-back points, first on a hitting error by the Cardinals before a kill from Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace) cut the lead to 14-12. Unfortunately, Saint Mary's won the next point, winning the set 15-12 and the match 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 12-15).

Peper led the team with 12 kills, while Kisch recorded a season and career high 22 digs in the loss.

With the loss, the Wildcats overall record falls to 6-8 while they hold a 0-3 mark in MIAC play. St. Kate's will return to the court on Wednesday when it hosts Augsburg University at 7 p.m. in the Butler Center Gym.