DULUTH, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University volleyball team improves to a nine match win streak on Friday evening with a 3-0 sweep at the College of St. Scholastica. St. Kate's record is now 18-7 overall with a MIAC standing of 8-1 with two regular season conference matches remaining. The win also ties the Wildcats all-time program win's record of 18 matching the 2022 season when they finished 18-8. 

Junior Mallory Johnson paced the Wildcats to an 11 kill match with three blocks. Liz Rosen finished the match with 13 digs, one ace and seven kills as Lucia Neuman recorded 18 assists and seven digs plus one ace. 

St. Kate's opened the match strong with an ace and a string of kills, quickly gaining a 4-0 lead. Despite a few errors, St. Kate's maintained the advantage. St. Scholastica gradually closed the gap leveling the score at 20-20. Ultimately,  the Wildcats took control led by Petrick and a final block from Johnson and Claudia Chmielewski securing the 25-23 victory. 

The second set opened with both teams trading points as service and attack error on both sides of the net kept the score tight. In the final moments, Rosen's kills boosted the Wildcats pushing them to take the set 25-23 again. The third a final set was riddled with service and attack errors again to add to the already intense match. As the set neared it's end, the Wildcats capitalized on errors from the Saint's allowing them to close out the set at 25-22 with a final kill from Johnson. 

The Wildcats will host the Carleton College Knights on Saturday afternoon with a 5 pm match. The conference match will also honor the three graduating seniors from St. Kate's including Brenna Essig, Lucia Neuman, and Lexie Petrick.