Volleyball 10/15/04 -- St. Catherine 3, Augsburg 2 (30-32, 21-30, 30-20, 30-26, 15-13)

BOXSCORE

ST. PAUL, Minn. (10/15/04) -- Shantel Steen had 28 kills, hitting .357, and contributed 16 digs, leading the College of St. Catherine volleyball team to a come-from-behind, five-game victory over visiting Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match Friday night at the Butler Center.

After Augsburg won the first two games by scores of 32-30 and 30-21, St. Catherine rallied for the match win, winning the final three games by scores of 30-20, 30-26, 15-13, improving to 3-22 overall and 1-7 in MIAC play. Augsburg drops to 9-12 overall, 1-7 in MIAC play.

The Auggies were paced by a career-high 22 kills by Linnea Evans * (Jr., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS), who added 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Billie Painschab (Jr., Howard Lake, Minn./Howard Lake-Waverly HS) added 15 kills and four blocks (three solo). Kristy Larson * (Sr., Pine Island, Minn.) had 11 kills, five digs and a block.

St. Catherine was keyed by a solid blocking attack, converting 12 team blocks in the match, including eight team blocks in the final three games.

Three Wildcats had double-doubles in the match. In addition to Steen's 28 kills and 16 digs, Nicole Haase had 17 kills and 21 digs, and setter Emily Van Hon had 56 assists and 16 digs, also adding five blocks (one solo). Amy Pommerening had nine kills, 11 kills and four blocks (one solo), Trisha Johnson added six kills and six blocks (one solo), and Charlotte Nagel had six kills, 10 digs and three blocks.

Augsburg rallied from a 23-17 deficit to win the first game, behind six kills from Painschab, who hit .500, and five kills from Evans. Steen had 10 kills for the Wildcats in the first game, hitting .600.

Augsburg jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the second game and cruised to the victory, hitting .200 as a team. Evans had six kills to lead the Auggies.

The third game provided the turnaround in the match. A 5-1 run midway through the match gave St. Catherine a 22-17 lead, stretched to 10 points late. St. Catherine hit .406 as a team (16 kills, three errors in 32 attempts), with nine kills and two blocks (one solo) from Steen.

A 9-2 run gave St. Catherine a 19-10 advantage in the fourth game, but Augsburg was able to trim the lead late to 28-26. However, St. Catherine got two kills to end the game and force the deciding stanza. Haase had six kills and Steen had five kills in the fourth game. As a team, Augsburg hit minus-.018 (10 kills, 11 errors in 55 attempts) in the fourth game.

The final game was a back-and-forth affair, with Augsburg leading 10-8 at one point. But St. Catherine scored seven of the last 10 points in the match, including two kills by Pommerening.

Sarah Bradley (Fr., International Falls, Minn.) had nine kills and 16 blocks for the Auggies, Tina Quick (Fr., Blaine, Minn./Centennial HS) had 13 digs, and Alexis Johnson (Jr., Oakdale, Minn./North St. Paul HS) converted 50 assists and 14 digs. The match marked her second 50-point dig performance, a career high, and her sixth assist-dig double-double of the season.

Both teams are in MIAC action on Saturday (10/16) at 3 p.m. on the road, with Augsburg playing at St. Mary's and St. Catherine playing at Macalester.