ST. PAUL, MINN. – On Friday, the St. Catherine University volleyball team competed in its two matches at the Macalester Invite, but was unable to come away with a win. On Saturday, it was a completely different story. The Wildcats dominated in their matches against the University of Wisconsin-Superior and Knox College, leaving the tournament with two key wins Saturday to improve their record to 5-4 this season.
St. Kate's opening 3-1 win (22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 27-25) over UW-Superior was gritty, as the Wildcats had to find a way to win in all four sets of the match. After losing the opener 25-22, St. Kate's rebounded for the huge 25-23 win despite trailing by as many as three midway through the set.
Payton Baker's (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) four kills and seven digs helped the Wildcats immensely while
Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) kept several rallies alive with her nine digs in the set.
Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) sealed the win for St. Kate's with a tough serve, which resulted in a Yellowjacket error and the Wildcats 25-23 set two victory. St. Kate's then cruised to a 25-16 victory in the third set thanks to strong all-round play from every individual on the court. With the score tied 1-1,
Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) went on a four point serving run to give the Wildcats a 5-1 lead. The team never looked back from there, as serving runs from Kisch and
Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) allowed St. Kate's to take a 16-7 lead. While UW-Superior managed to score nine more points, a huge kill from
Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola) put things out of reach for good and gave the Wildcats the 25-16 win.
The fourth set was the most interesting of all, as St. Kate's mounted a huge come-back to beat the Yellow Jackets 27-25 and win the match 3-1. The Wildcats fell behind 11-5 after a serving run by UW-Superior's Megan Holz. However, St. Kate's slowly but surely chipped away at the Yellow Jackets lead until they eventually evened the score at 15-15 thanks to strong serves from
Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace). From there, the two teams traded the lead back and forth before UW-Superior took a 23-22 lead.
A kill from Peper and ace from
Johna Radke (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego) swung the momentum back in the Wildcats favor and gave them a 24-23 edge over the Yellow Jackets. However, UW-Superior evened the score at 24-24 and the two teams traded the next two points, resulting in a 25-25 score. A kill from
Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Wis. / Elk Mound) gave St. Kate's the 26-25 lead before Kisch served the team to a 27-25 victory.
Peper led the team with 14 kills and just two errors on 24 attempts in the match against the Yellow Jackets, while Kreuser added 11 and Flatness 10. Schwarzrock led in both assists (25) and digs (24), while Auseth added 21 digs, a season and career high.
The momentum from the opening match carried over to St. Kate's second of the day, as the Wildcats swept Knox 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-17). St. Kate's outhit the Prairie Fire 48-21, led by
Emily Carman (Maple Grove, Minn. / Osseo) and Peper's 12 kills apiece. Schwarzrock had 18 assists in the second match, bringing her total for the day to 43, and Radke tallied 16 during the match. Kisch led the team in digs with 16.
With the two wins, St. Kate's overall record improves to 5-4. The Wildcats open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play this upcoming week, when they host the College of Saint Benedict at 7 p.m. on Wednesday September 13.
