ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University volleyball team opened the 2024 season co-hosting the St. Paul Tournament along with Hamline University. St. Kate's fell in their first match to the University of Dubuque before cruising past St. Norbert College to close out the evening. Dubuque downed St. Kate's 3-0 while the Wildcats responded defeating the Golden Knights 3-0. 

MATCH 1 | University of Dubuque 3, St. Kate's 0 (29-27, 25-17, 25-23)
Junior Liz Rosen tallied a match-high 18 digs in the Wildcats opener along with five kills. Senior Lexie Petrick recorded 17 digs and a team-best nine kills and two blocks while Lucia Neuman recorded 20 assists. 

The first set was neck and neck trading points at the end before Dubuque claimed the set 29-27. They carried the momentum into set two edging out St. Kate's 25-17 and sealed the victory in three with a 25-23 set score. 

MATCH 2 | St. Kate's 3, St. Norbert 0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-21)
The Wildcats didn't dwell on their first match coming out strong against a talented Green Knights team in their second match. Mallory Johnson hit .316 in the second match with seven kills while Emily Bredman had a team best .455 with five kills. Fagan also recorded seven kills and two blocks while Brenna Essig and Petrick tallied twelve digs. 

The match opened with a kill from Johnson, assisted by Neuman, giving St. Catherine an early lead. St. Norbert struggled to keep pace, committing several service and attack errors, which widened St. Kate's advantage. 

Set two started strong for the Wildcats, with Madison Fagan leading an early charge and taking advantage of several attack errors by the Green Knights. St. Norbert managed to close the gap slightly, but they were plagued by errors,  Despite a late surge by St. Norbert, St. Kate's balanced offense and solid blocking efforts led them to a 25-17 victory, with Rosen's kill closing out the set.

St. Norbert struggled with errors in the final set, as Essig and Preuss further widened St .Kate's lead with service aces and kills, Despite a late rally from the Green Knights, St. Kate's closed the set with a kill from Fagan, capping off their dominant performance.

St. Kate's will face Concordia University, Wisconsin on Saturday at 1 pm followed by a match against Augustana College scheduled for 3 pm.