SUPERIOR, Wis. - A week ago the Yellowjacket volleyball team met up with St. Catherine on the second day of the UW-River Falls tournament, a marathon match the Yellowjackets ultimately won in five sets. Saturday afternoon the teams met again, this time in a non-conference match at Mertz Mortorelli Gym.
The Wildcats jumped out to take the first two sets before holding off a Yellowjacket rally to win 3-1. With the loss the Yellowjackets fell to 6-9 on the year.
Cami Sletta (Willmar, Minn./Willmar Senior) paced the Yellowjacket attack Saturday, leading the Yellowjackets with 19 kills on 45 attacks.
Brylee Colligan (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) was the only other Yellowjacket to reach double figures in kills, finishing the match with 13.
The first set was tight before St. Kate's opened up a five-point lead late, 18-13. The Yellowjackets rallied, however, riding kills from Colligan,
Gina Baertsch (Farmington, Minn./Farmington Area) and
Elise Ertl (Phillips, Wis./Phillips) to pull even at 19-19. St. Kate's would break the tie and win six of the final seven points to take the opening set 25-20. In the second set the Yellowjackets started quickly, only to see their early lead evaporate. The Yellowjackets again took the lead, only to see the Wildcats rally, and for the second set in a row break a 19-19 tie. This time St. Kate's won five of the final six points to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match, thanks to a 25-22 win in the second set.
Down a pair of sets and with their backs against the wall, the Yellowjackets came out firing in the third set and had the early lead, but they weren't able to put any distance between themselves and the Wildcats. The teams were tied 11 times early before the Yellowjackets finally took a two-point lead at 13-11. The lead reached three several times, but each time the Wildcats would battle back, tying the set at 18-18. This time the Yellowjackets were the team able to get on a run late, taking seven of 11 points down the stretch to win the set 25-22 and cut the Wildcats' lead in half.
There was more back-and-forth in the fourth set, with neither team able to build what would be an insurmountable lead. Points were traded early, and late, and the Wildcats got the first crack at match point with a 24-23 lead, but the Yellowjackets drew even. St. Kate's would have two more match points, and with a 26-25 lead got the final kill to take the set 27-25 and the match 3-1.
The Yellowjackets attacked at a 15.6 percent, while the Wildcats had a .181 attack percentage.
Baertsch and
Megan Holz (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) each hit double digits in assists, posting 19 and 15, respectively. On defense libero
Payton Scherber (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville Senior) led the Yellowjackets with 23 digs, while
Jordyn O'Brien (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) had four blocks.
The Yellowjackets will get their first taste of conference play Tuesday, September 24 when they hit the road to take on Crown College. The match will get underway at 7:00 p.m.
