ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University volleyball team won their first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoff match since the 1983 season with a 3-2 victory over the No. 6 seeded Augsburg University Auggies on Tuesday evening in front of a packed Butler Center. St. Kate's is now 18-7 on the season and will travel to Northfield to face the St. Olaf College Oles on Thursday for the MIAC Semifinals. 

The five-set match was a team effort with rookie Tiff Tellez adding eleven kills and 15 digs as junior Maggie Rosen had ten kills and three blocks. Senior middle Allison Marso had a career-high eight blocks in the match to go along with her eight kills. Senior Lauren Skar also had eight kills on the night and a season-best four blocks. Senior Marissa Gilbertson recorded 23 assists, 13 digs plus two kills and two aces. Sophomore Lexie Petrick led from the service line with four aces, tallied a team high 19 digs and added eight kills. 

St. Kate's came out strong right away taking the first set 25-20 but found themselves in error trouble for most of the second set. Augsburg forced ten errors from St. Kate's in the second set to their just two taking the set 25-15. 

The Auggies were successful again in set three by a score of 27-25 but couldn't overcome the energy coming out of the stands falling to the Wildcats 25-22 in set four. With the match tied at 2-2, Gilbertson started the Wildcats off to a 5-0 run in the deciding set. Augsburg was able to get within two at 6-4 and again at 7-5 but couldn't overcome St. Kate's as the Wildcats went on a four-point run to claim the match. 

St. Kate's dropped their match against St. Olaf earlier this season by a score of 3-1. The conference semifinal match will be played at 7 pm in Northfield with both teams looking to face the winner of the No. 1 seeded Gustavus Adolphus College vs. No. 5 College of Saint Benedict Bennies match also being played Thursday, November 3 at 7 pm.