ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University volleyball team could not have asked for a better scenario entering Saturday afternoon's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match against the Hamline University Pipers. Despite losing to Carleton College at home on Friday, the Wildcats were ready to rebound with a home win over the Pipers and give themselves some momentum entering the final week of the regular season. Unfortunately, that was not in the cards for St. Kate's Saturday evening, as Hamline rebounded to win the final three sets in a 3-1 win over the Wildcats.  

Things looked good for St. Kate's after the opening set, which the team won 25-18. In fact, the Wildcats dominated in the first set, jumping ahead 13-9 on a serving run from Meagan Schwarzrock (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson). However, St. Kate's was never able to quiet the Pipers in the opening set, as they managed to tie the score at 13-13. Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) put a stop to Hamline's run with a big kill from the middle, while Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) seemed to give the Wildcats a substantial 19-17 lead in the latter stages of the set.

The Pipers, though, were bound and determined to keep things interesting and managed to get within a point of St. Kate's lead on an attack error by Emma Nelson (Byron, Minn. / Byron). Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace) put a stop to that with a kill from the right side, and Larissa Kisch (Oakdale, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) did not allow Hamline to score another point, guiding the Wildcats to a 25-18 opening set victory.

St. Kate's tried to set the tone early in the second set, jumping ahead 7-4 thanks to Nelson, Schwarzrock and Mackenzie Peper (Osceola, Wis. / Osceola). However, the Wildcats could not diminish Hamline, as the visitors fought for point after point and eventually evened the set 8-8. St. Kate's seemed to quiet the pesky Pipers with kills from Peper and Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake) and jumped ahead 17-12 lead.

A bad rotation on serve receive, though, allowed Hamline to get back in the match. The Pipers Marissa Franco went on a six-point serving run to give Hamline a 18-17 lead over the Wildcats. Although St. Kate's managed to tie the score at 18, the Pipers won seven of the ensuing 10 points to win the set 25-21.

With each team winning one set a piece, the Wildcats were looking to take the 2-1 advantage in set three. Again, though, bad rotations on serve receive and struggles on offense gave Hamline the 2-1 advantage rather than St. Kate's. The Wildcats hit -.023 in the third set and had just eight kills in the third set and ultimately fell by a score of 25-17.

Things looked bleak for St. Kate's in the start of the fourth set as well. The Pipers jumped ahead 6-1, as the Wildcats continued to struggle with serve receive. Peper and Baker got the team back on track with back-to-back kills, and Brooke Beuning (New London, Minn. / New London-Spicer) came off the bench to spark a huge scoring run for St. Kate's. The first year setter's tough float serve cut the lead to 7-6 before a kill from Baker tied the score at 7-7. While Hamline managed to score the next point, the Wildcats scored for straight with kills from Kreuser and a dominant serving run from Kisch to take a 12-8 lead.

It looked like things were finally back on track for St. Kate's after Kisch's serving run. Despite the Pipers best attempts, the Wildcats were able to stop any potential threat they faced and eventually led by as four points in the set. St. Kate's did run into more trouble on serve receive, though, and Hamline was able to whittle the lead to just one point in the latter stages of the set.

Despite the Pipers best attempts, the Wildcats battled and eventually took a 24-21 lead on a kill from Breuer. On the ensuing point, St. Kate's seemingly won and forced the decisive fifth set when Hamline setter Megan Rubbelke made a double contact on a set. The call, though, went the Pipers way and swung the momentum in the visiting team's direction as they won six straight points to claim the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.

Peper led the team with 11 kills and a .300 hitting percentage while Baker was second with 10 kills and a .189 hitting percentage. Schwarzrock led the teams in assists (22) and aces (2), while Kisch led the team defensively with 20 digs and Auseth added 19.

With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 9-14 and the team in 1-8 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to the court of Wednesday October 25 when they travel to Moorhead, Minnesota to take on Concordia College. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.