WINONA, Minn. — St. Olaf put an end to the Saint Mary's University volleyball team's bid for a conference double Saturday afternoon, as the Oles rolled to a 15-8, 15-10, 14-16, 15-12 victory in the championship game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships.

With the victory, the Oles earn the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Regional tournament, while the Cardinals — the conference's regular-season champions — will have to wait until Monday to see if they received one of the at-large berths.

"It's a tough loss," admitted SMU coach Mike Lester. "We needed to make some adjustments (against St. Olaf) and once we did that, I thought we played very well. Give St. Olaf credit, they played an outstanding match."

The Cardinals earned a berth in the title match with a thrilling 5-game victory over Bethel in the semifinals. After all behind 2-0, the Cardinals rattled off three straight wins — including a 19-17 triumph in the fifth and decisive game.

"That just shows what this team is made of," Lester said of his team's effort against the Royals. "They may fall behind, but they are never going to quit — they knew what they needed to do and they stuck with it.

"It was an awesome match."