Martin Luther College went 0-4 in this St. Catherine/ Hamline tournament this weekend against Hamline (25-22, 22-25, 21-25, 23-25),  Central (21-25, 16-25, 20-25), UW- Stout (13-25, 16-25, 18-25) and St. Catherine (9-25, 16-25, 21-25).

Hamline.
The Knights opened with a win against the Hamline Pipers, 25-22. The Knights came down with a total of 15 kills and 15 digs. Leading the Knights with five kills were Hannah Willems and Kylie Wolf with seven assists.

The Pipers returned and took the second set from the Knights with a score of 25-22. The Pipers never let up with the intensity and went on to take the following two sets, but they were not easy to win. The back-and-forth matches kept intensity for the match.

Leading the Knights in kills goes to Grace Kieselhorst with 15, Kylie Wolf had 22 assists in the match, and Hannah Willems had 28 receptions.

Central
The Knights later that day took on the Central Dutch, losing 21-25, 16-25, 20-25. With a close loss in the first set, the Dutch did not let up and played stronger in the sets to come. The Knights could not establish dominance but had back-and-forth action at the start of all three sets. Lauren Paulson had 23 receptions in the match, along with Kylie Wolf with nine assists, and Lauren Paulson and Grace Kieselhorst both with five kills.

UW- Stout
On Saturday, the Knights battled the UW-Stout Blue Devils at St. Catherine University but fell short, losing 13-25, 16-25, 18-25. With a close set to start off the match, the Knights would come back after two consecutive service aces by the Blue Devils. After a good streak of service ace, kill, and another service ace by the Knights, in the beginning, the Knights could not touch the Blue Devils for the rest of the set. 
The Knights took control at the beginning of the second set, but soon the Blue Devils came back battling head to head; from there, the Blue Devils dominated the set. 

Same idea, different set for the Knights in the remainder of the game. The Knights battled the Blue Devils for most of this last set but UW- Stout broke away after a cluster of errors by the Knights. From there, Martin Luther could not recover. The Knights fell short to the Blue Devils 18-25.

Grace Kieselhorst led Martin Luther with seven kills and six assists, while Hannah Willems and Naomi Bridgemen both had eight digs in the match.

St. Catherine
In the day's last match, the Knights played the St. Catherine Wild Cats, losing 9-25, 16-25, 21-25.
With some back-and-forth action to start the first set, the Knights struggled to keep the game clean, and the Wild Cats capitalized on that. However, with time, the Knights got stronger and stronger throughout the game, but it was not enough to claim victory.

The leader in kills was Hannah Willems and Grace Kieselhorst, Kylie wolf in assists, Madeline Bourman in receptions, and Naomi Bridgemen in digs.

The Knights will battle The Carleton Knights in Northfield, Minnesota, on Wednesday, September 14, at 7 p.m. The overall record for the Knights is now 3-7.