ST. PAUL, Minn. - The St. Catherine University Wildcat volleyball team put on a show for the program's alumnae on Saturday afternoon challenging nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus in St. Paul. Overall, the Golden Gusties swept the Wildcats in three sets as the result of long runs to close out each set.
St. Kate's took an early 6-1 lead over the Gusties with junior outside hitter
Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn.) at the service line. The Wildcats were in the set trading points with Gustavus until the 11-11 tie and the Gusties running away with the first set point. The final score in the first set was 25-15 Gustavus.
The second set started out strong again for St. Kate's taking the lead early over Gustavus. Junior setter
Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Valley City State) and sophomore middle hitter
Erin Tebben (New London, Minn. / New London-Spicer) lead the Wildcats to a 7-2 lead before rallying back and fourth with Gustavus to tie the set at 12-12. The Gusties errors and Wildcats back row kept St. Kate's in the second set until Gustavus ran away with it after the tie at 18-18. The Gusties took the second set over St. Kate's 25-19.
Gustavus kept their momentum up headed into the third set getting a quick 9-3 lead over St. Kate's. Schwarzrock led in the third set again from the service line getting the Wildcats back to tie at 9-9. After a service error from Schwarzrock, the Gusties Hailey Embacher served nine straight points granting them the 19-9 lead. The lead was too much to overcome for the Wildcats but not without fight. The final set score was 25-16 Gusties for the match win.
Tebben had an impressive performance at the net with 7 kills and 1 block. Other leaders for the Wildcats include first-year libero
Grace Amacher (Faribault, Minn.) with 15 digs and Nelson with 1 kill, 1 ace and 10 digs.
The Wildcats are now 7-7 overall and 0-5 in the MIAC and return to play next Wednesday, October 3 as they travel north to Superior, Wisconsin for a 7 P.M. non-conference match against University of Wisconsin-Superior.
