Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — There was nothing overly pretty about the Saint Mary's University volleyball team's performance Saturday afternoon against St. Benedict.

In fact, at times, the Cardinals' play was rather ugly.

But ugly or not, the bottom line was what matter to coach Mike Lester — and that bottom line was a 30-26, 28-30, 30-20, 30-23 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

"That definitely wasn't one of our better performances, but the bottom line was we won the match," said Lester, whose team extended its winning streak to six straight and moved to 4-0 in the MIAC. "There are so many teams that are going to be battling for those six spots (in the MIAC post-season tournament), and anytime you can get a little separation from that group, it's a good thing.

"We were able to do that this weekend," continued Lester, whose team handed Concordia its first conference loss of the season on Friday, then dropped St. Benedict to 2-3 in the MIAC Saturday. "Both Concordia and St. Ben's are teams that are going to be in that (MIAC Tournament) mix, so it's nice to beat them."

The win, however, was anything but easy.

SMU struggled to a 30-26 win in the opener, then could never quite get on track in Game 2, as St. Ben's opened an eight-point, 21-13 advantage. The Cardinals rallied to pull even, 23-23, but the Blazers scored seven of the final 12 points to even the match at 1-1.

"Those first two games we gave away way too many points," explained Lester. "Anytime you give your opponent free points, you are going to struggle, and that's exactly what happened in those first two games."

There was no struggling in Games 3 and 4, as SMU got up big in both games en route to their 15th win in their last 16 games.

Tracy Koertgen (Crystal Lake, Ill.) led the way for the Cardinals, picking up a match-high 17 kills and six aces, while Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Ill.) chipped in 16 kills and 21 digs. Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa) tallied 10 kills and Tessa Stranik (Eatonville, Wash.) finished with 60 assists for SMU (4-0, 15-3).

"We didn't play as well as I would have liked," admitted Lester, whose team returns to MIAC action on Wednesday, traveling to St. Thomas. "But the bottom line is, we got the win — and that's what matters most."