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The Chisago Lakes volleyball team ran into a difficult stretch over the past week, dropping five matches, including three at their own Wildcat Invitational.

The Wildcats opened the tournament Saturday, Sept. 26 with their closest match of the day against Maranatha Christian Academy. Chisago Lakes grabbed the opening set 25-23, but Maranatha responded with a 25-18 win in the second before taking the deciding set 15-3.

Chisago Lakes nearly forced a third set against St. Cloud Cathedral later in the tournament. The Wildcats battled the Crusaders to the wire in the opener before falling 26-24, and Cathedral finished off the sweep with a 25-15 victory.

Blaine also swept Chisago Lakes at the tournament, winning 25-15 and 25-16.

The Wildcats returned to Mississippi 8 Conference action Tuesday, Sept. 29 against Cambridge-Isanti and were much more competitive throughout the night despite falling in three sets.

Chisago Lakes stayed within striking distance in all three, but the Bluejackets came away with wins of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-22.

Princeton visited Chisago Lakes two nights later and handed the Wildcats another 3-0 setback. The Tigers won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-10, but Chisago Lakes responded with a much stronger effort in the third. Princeton eventually held off the Wildcats 25-22 to complete the sweep.

The five-match skid came on the heels of a loss to Zimmerman as well, so the ‘Cats have lost six straight and seven of eight after a strong start.

Things don’t get much easier as well. The ‘Cats traveled to North Branch earlier this week before taking on Totino-Grace and Austin this weekend in a tournament at St. Anthony, and they’ll finish the regular season out with three away games at Monticello, Totino-Grace and Big Lake.

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