Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — It was almost disaster for the Saint Mary's University volleyball team .

Almost.

The Cardinals entered Saturday's MIAC match with St. Catherine have just disposed of Macalester 3-1 the night before.

Add to that the fact that SMU had cruised to a 3-0, 60-minute win over the Wildcats in their first meeting at the SMU Sugar Loaf Classic earlier this season, and it appeared like the Cardinals were in for a rather easy afternoon.

Yeah, right.

St. Catherine took SMU to the limit, winning Games 2 and 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five match, only to have the Cardinals regroup and escape with a 3-2, 30-19, 22-30, 20-30, 30-27, 15-9 win.

Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) led the way with 17 kills and two blocks for the Cardinals, who improved to 4-4 in the MIAC and 12-13 overall with the win. Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) chipped in 10 kills and 14 digs, while Katie Christensen (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and Mollie Melton (Oronoco, Minn.) each tallied four blocks.

Amy Lipetzky recorded a match-high 30 kills in the losing effort for St. Catherine (1-7 MIAC, 3-13 overall).