Match Sumnmary

WINONA, Minn. — After picking up a key Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory Friday evening against St. Benedict, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team knew what it had to do Saturday afternoon against Concordia — and the Cardinals were in no mood to fool around.

Led by Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) and Rhonda Thibault (Fairbault, Minn.), the Cardinals' business-like approach was too much for the Cobbers to handle as SMU rolled to a 3-0 (30-18, 30-22, 30-25) victory at the SMU gym.

"This was a huge weekend for us," admitted SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team improved to 3-1 in the MIAC and 5-7 overall. "I don't think we necessarily played our best (against Concordia), but it was still a solid performance and the ladies did what they had to do to get the job done."

With Rouzer and Thibault accouting for half of the Cardinals' 44 kills, SMU never gave Concordia a chance. Rouzer collected a game-high 12 kills, while Thibault chipped in 10 and a stellar .625 attack percentage. Leslie Nicholls (Hastings, Minn.) added 14 digs and Melissa Cowan (Algonquin, Ill.) dished out 36 kills as SMU rebounded from a 3-1 loss to Bethel last Wednesday with back-to-back victories on its home floor over the weekend.

"We look at (Wednesday's loss) as a learning experience," explained Lester. "It was our first conference match on the road, and having to play on the road is not an easy thing in this conference. Bethel played an outstanding match and we did not do a good job of handling that type of pressure — we got frustrated and down on ourselves and we just didn't have that positive attitude that is one of the keys to our success."

The certainly did Friday and Saturday.

"We showed (against St. Benedict and Concordia) what we are capable of doing when we all stick together," Lester said. "It's easier to do on your home floor — now we have to find a way to put the same performance on the court on the road."

Beginning Wednesday at Hamline.