ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University volleyball team advances to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoff Semifinal for the second consecutive season after defeating the fifth seeded Bethel University Royals inside Butler Center on Monday evening. The quarterfinal win is the program's second playoff win since the playoffs were introduced by the MIAC in 2000. 

Maggie Rosen led the way again for the Wildcats tallying a match best 14 kills hitting .313 and adding three blocks. Liz Rosen had a day as well with 19 digs and 8 kills while Lexie Petrick and Madison Fagan joined her putting up eight successful attacks each. Mallory Johnson continued her impressive sophomore campaign with nine kills and just two attack errors hitting above .300 in the last three matches. 

St. Kate's dominated at the service line on Monday collecting 11 aces to Bethel's one. Ella Rustand had a career best 4 aces while Brenna Essig added three and Claire Segner had two. Rustand added 12 assists and one kills while Lucia Neuman posted 23 assists and ten digs. 

The two conference foes battled in the first set going back and forth through 18-18. The Royals ran away with the set with a seven point run taking the first point 25-18. Bethel carried the run into the second set going up 4-0 early but St. Kate's fought back to tie the match 1-1 with a set score of 25-23. 

The third set belonged to the purple and gold cruising through the set for a 25-15 win with four aces while hitting .269 as a team. The Royals weren't ready to give up though starting off the fourth set going on a 7-1 run. The Wildcats inched back led by M. Rosen adding six kills and two blocks while Fagan had three blocks. The unstoppable duo at the net paced the Wildcats to the match win claiming the set 25-17. 

St. Catherine will travel to St. Peter, Minnesota on Thursday facing the top-seeded Gustavus Adolphus College Golden Gusties at 7 pm in the semifinal round of the 2023 MIAC Playoff Tournament.