Box Score
After a huge 4-1 week, the St. Catherine University volleyball team hoped some of that momentum would carry over into a huge Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) road-contest against Saint Benedict, Wednesday evening.
The Wildcats knew it wouldn't be easy to pull-off an upset as they faced a Blazer squad that was 16-4 heading into the match and boast two of the league's top-10 hitters (kills per set). The only Blazer loss in MIAC play came against No. 7 St. Thomas early in the season.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats gave everything they had but just couldn't find an answer for the tough Blazer offense in a 3-0 (18-25, 15-25, 24-26) conference setback in St. Joseph, Minn.
After dropping the first two sets in a rather quick fashion, the Wildcats came storming back and even retained their highest lead of the match at 20-17 in the third. The Blazers came storming back to win, though, despite the Wildcats hanging around to force a second-match point.
Marie O'Neil (St. Michael, Minn.), who was named to the UW-Platteville All-Tournament team last weekend, continued to be impressive for the WIldcats. She had a team-high seven kills and recorded a .312 hitting percentage.
Stephanie Meschke (Faribault, Minn.) followed closely behind with six kills and added two assists, two digs, one service ace and a block assist to her stat line
First-year
Zoe Barr (River Falls, Wis.) was the team's most accurate hitter (.500) as she made just six attempts count, knocking down three for kills. She also added to the four team blocks with two block assists.
Fellow first-year
Miranda Krenske (Faribault, Minn.) also had three kills in the match and added one dig, one solo block and one block assist to help on the defensive front for the Wildcats.
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 3-4 in the MIAC and 12-11 overall. The Wildcats look to bounce back as they head into another weekend of tournament play at UW-Stout, Friday. The tournament begins for the Wildcats with a tough non-conference matchup against Saint Mary's at 5:30 p.m.
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