ST. PAUL, Minn. – The 1-0 St. Catherine University Wildcat volleyball team travels to Ashland, Wisconsin competing in the Northland College Tournament for two matches on Friday, September 7 and two more Saturday, September 8. This will be the first of a string of away matches to open the 2018 season after their home opener last Friday when the Wildcats defeated non-conference opponent Martin Luther College 3-0.  

First-year libero Grace Amacher (Faribault, Minn.) is currently leading the conference in digs per set averaging 6 while junior Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) and first-year Lauren Isaacson (Faribault, Minn) are ranking t-3^rd averaging 5. Isaacson also is a conference leader in hitting percentage where she ranks 5^th and service aces per set where she ranks 1^st. Isaacson is joined as a top competitor in the conference for hitting percentage by senior right side hitter Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis.) and sophomore middle hitter Erin Cutts (Osceola, Wis.). Other conference leaders are again Peper averaging 3 kills per set and junior Emma Nelson averaging 1 ace per set.

Opening up the tournament Friday morning at 11 a.m. will be the Wildcats vs. the Rockford University Regents from Rockford, Illinois. The Regents are currently 0-5 since opening their season last Friday. A member of the NCAA Division III Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), the Regents have not yet faced any like opponents this season. St. Kate's is the only Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).

The second match of the day for the Wildcats will be against Concordia University, Chicago who also is a member of the NACC. Nicknamed the Cougars, Concordia Chicago is 0-4 on the season after playing in a pair of matches in the Concordia Invitational Volleyball Tournament. They also played again earlier this week in the North Park University Triangular where they lost both matches. The Cougars will play a match prior to our meeting where they will face Silver Lake College at 1 p.m.

Saturday's matches come with a later start time and include facing Silver Lake College at 4 p.m. and then a common non-conference opponent Northland College at 6 p.m. Silver Lake out of Manitowoc, Wisconsin is an NAIA member and currently 1-1 this season. In their last match of the tournament, the Wildcats will take on the Northland College Lumberjills at 6 p.m. following their Silver Lake match. Last season the Wildcats faced Northland at home and won 3-0.

Fan will be able to follow along as each match this weekend will include live stats that can be access here: bit.ly/2CoD75G

The only match of the weekend featuring a live streamed broadcast will be the match on Saturday evening against Northland College at 5 p.m. The broadcast can be accessed here: bit.ly/2wLjW0T