Match Summary

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Saint Mary's University volleyball coach Mike Lester has always set up his nonconference schedule so that his Cardinals were facing some of the best NCAA Division III teams in the country.

This year was no exemption.

Take the first round of the IIAC-MIAC Border Battle Friday.

The Cardinals opened the eight-team tournament — which features four Iowa Conference (IIAC) schools against four squads from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) — against Central (Iowa), a team that is not only ranked eighth nationally, but has also won three national titles, been in the NCAA tournament field eight of the last nine years, and has already beaten defending national champion Washington (Mo.) this season.

SMU gave the Dutch everything they could handle, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth and deciding game, only to come up just short in falling 3-2 (30-21, 30-25, 21-30, 23-30, 17-15).

Lisa Engdahl (North Branch, Minn.) led the Cardinals' attack with a team-high 19 kills. Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) chipped in 16 kills, three aces, six digs and six blocks, while Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) finished with 14 kills and 25 digs, and Tessa Stranik (Eatonville, Wash.) collected 50 assists and 20 digs.

Things didn't get any easier in the second round, as SMU squared off against Wartburg — another national power which has been to the national tournament five of the last eight years — in a rematch of their Sugar Loaf Classic match.

SMU beat the Knights in their first meeting 3-0, and got the best of them again Friday, once again rallying from behind to earn a 3-1 (26-30, 35-33, 30-18, 30-25) victory.

Dingels hammered 19 kills and chipped in 17 digs and six blocks, while Rouzer added 15 kills and 22 digs, and Engdahl tallied 13 kills and 30 digs.

It's pretty hard to face teams any better than that — and that's just the first day of the two-day tournament.

The Cardinals close out the tournament Saturday, taking on Loras at 9 a.m. and Simpson — a 3-1 winner vs. SMU at the Sugar Loaf Classic — at 1 p.m.