Cardinals open MIAC season with win

Donny Nadeau, SMU Sports Information Office

Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team entered Wednesday evening's match against St. Catherine boasting a 10-3 overall record — including wins in 10 of their last 11 matches.

But Wednesday's match was the Cardinals' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener — the slate's were wiped clean, both teams carried identical 0-0 records, and SMU was determined to make a statement.

Consider them heard — loud and clear.

Led by Kirstan Rouzer's (Comstock, Wis.) game-high 16 kills and nine digs, SMU opened its MIAC season in impressive fashion, routing the visiting Wildcats 30-16, 30-23, 30-14 in front of nearly 300 fans at the SMU Gym.

"This was a solid team effort," said SMU coach Mike Lester. "Anytime you can hit .315 as a team, regardless of who you are playing, it's a solid performance."

The fact that it got the Cardinals' MIAC season off a rousing start, however, makes it that much sweeter.

"Getting off on the right foot is so important in this conference, because (the conference) is so tough," said Lester. "Right now, half the teams in the conference are 1-0, and the other half are 0-1.

"It's nice to be one of those six that's 1-0."

The Cardinals started strong in Game 1 and never looked back in beating the overmatched Wildcats in just over one hour. Holding a slim, 11-10 lead in the opening game, the Cardinals rattled off 19 of the game's next 25 points en route to the 30-16 win. It was more of the same in Game 2, as Katie Christensen (Crystal Lake, Ill.) served seven straight points to give SMU a 13-5 lead, and the Cardinals went on to a 30-23 win. In Game 3, the Cardinals were, in a word, dominating, as Mollie Melton (Oronoco, Minn.) served SMU from a 5-3 deficit to a 16-5 advantage as the Cardinals completed the three-game sweep with the 30-14 win.

"I tip my hat to (St. Catherine), they made some adjustments in that second game and really picked it up," said Lester, whose team returns to action Thursday, traveling to Luther for a nonconferencce match. "We knew coming in that, on paper, we had the stronger team. But our approach has always been that, it doesn't matter who the opponent is, we have to strive to play at the highest level every match.

"And we did that tonight."

St. Catherine can certainly attest to that.

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