ST. PAUL, Minn. - St. Catherine volleyball put up a tough battle for the No. 9 College of Saint Benedict Bennies on Wednesday evening falling in five sets in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) home opener.

St. Kate's took the first set from the Bennies 26-24 rallying back to take the lead after St. Ben's carried a five point lead. The second and third sets went in favor of the Bennies defeating St. Kate's 25-21 and 25-18, respectively. 

The Wildcats sailed through the fourth set topping the nationally ranked Bennies, 25-19 to force the decisive fifth set. St. Ben's led the Wildcats 12-7 in the final set when St. Kate's battled together to get within one point at 13-12. The Bennies went on to take the set 15-13 from St. Kate's ending in a heartbreaker. 

Senior Emma Nelson had a career-best 35 digs while also contributing 13 kills on the Bennies. Nelson who has recorded a kill-dig double-double in eight matches this season, had just one more dig on the evening than sophomore defensive specialist Grace Amacher who tallied a season-best 34 digs. Sophomore Lauren Isaacson added 12 kills for St. Kate's, while junior Erin Cutts had 9. 

Junior middle, Erin Tebben had 5 blocks and 7 kills tied with rookie Lauren Skar who tallied 7 kills hitting a team best .357 on the night. 

St. Kate's head coach, Todd Nelson said after the match, "I'm really proud of the effort and resiliency our team played with throughout the match. When we play with an aggressive mindset and play with our rhythm, we are very good team. We got a huge boost tonight from our home crowd. They were awesome!" 

St. Kate's is at Crown College on Saturday, September 27 for a 7 pm their final non-conference match of the regular season.