Match Sumnmary

WINONA, Minn. — The first time the Saint Mary's University volleyball team faced St. Benedict this season, the match went the maximum five games, with the Cardinals sneaking away with a 30-17, 23-30, 29-31, 30-24, 15-11 victory at the St. Benedict Invitational last weekend.

The Cardinals only needed four games to put away the Blazers when the two teams squared off again Friday evening in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match.

But it wasn't any easier.

Led by the stellar performances of freshmen Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) and Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.), the Cardinals battled to a 30-22, 33-31, 25-30, 32-30 victory — a victory coach Mike Lester said was well-deserved.

"That was a hard-earned win," said Lester, whose team improved to 2-1 in the MIAC and 4-7 overall. "We knew going in that St. Ben's was going to be one of those teams battling with us for the 3-4-5-6 spots ih the conference (playoff) chase, and to come away with a win against them is a huge boost for us.

"It was the kind of match that could have gone either way, and when it came down to the big points, our team stepped up and got the job done."

And when the pressure was at its peak, Dingels, Rouzer and Co. were at their best.

"The turning point of the entire match was the start of the second game," said Lester, whose team struggled out of the blocks in Game 2, falling behind 7-1 and forcing the SMU head coach to take a timeout to regroup his troops. "We could have very easily folded up the tents right there, but we didn't."

St. Ben's managed to cut into the Cardinals' lead with a win in the third game, using the serving of Krista Hagen (4 aces), Alicia Pohlmann (3 aces) and Marie Liekhus (3 aces), but the resilient Cardinals once again bounced back in the fourth game.

Rouzer finished with a team-leading16 kills, while Dingels was close behind with 15, while also adding a team-high .444 attack percentage. Rhonda Thibault (Faribault, Minn.) chipped in 14 kills and Leslie Nicholls (Hastings, Minn.) had 11 for the Cardinals, while Libby Homan laced a match-high 23 kills in the losing effort for St. Ben's

"(St. Ben's) served the ball very well, and they made it tough on us," admitted Lester. "At times, we serve-received better than we have all season, and at other times, we were bad — not average, bad."

And that's one area Lester knows his team will have to clean up on — and in a hurry — as SMU returns to action Saturday afternoon against Concordia-Moorhead.

"I don't think playing back-to-back games (in less than 24 hours) is that big of a deal for us," admitted Lester. "In the St. Ben's tournament, we played a five-game match against Simpson and a tough, four-game match against Wartburg on Friday night and came back and beat St. Ben's in five on Saturday, so I don't think playing games on back-to-back days should be a problem."