Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team saw its school-record home winning streak come to a screeching halt Saturday morning — but coach Mike Lester was having a hard time feeling disappointed by his Cardinals' performance.

"That was a great match — we played well, (Simpson) just played better," said Lester after watching his team's 18-match home streak come to a close with a 3-1, 30-25, 30-28, 24-30, 30-24 setback to the Storm at the SMU Sugar Loaf Classic. "That was one of those matches were every dig, every (offensive) opportunity, you need to convert.

"We didn't do that as well as Simpson did, and that was the difference in the match."

And if the Cardinals were feeling any ill effects from that loss to eventual tournament champion Simpson, they certainly didn't show it against nationally ranked Wartburg in their final match of the day.

The Cardinals turned in their most consistent performance of the season in routing the No. 16-ranked Knights 3-0, 30-18, 30-19, 30-20.

"I had a feeling we'd come back with a strong performance, after letting that first match (of the day) get away from us," said Lester. "We've got some great senior leadership on this team, and I knew we would be mentally focused and ready to play.

"All season long we've been talking about trying to stay away from the high, highs and the low, lows and play at the consistent level for a whole match," Lester said. "(Against Wartburg) we did that."

And then some.

Led by Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) match-high 17 kills, the Cardinals hit .a whopping .308 as a team. Dingels also chipped in three blocks, while Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) added 12 kills, nine digs and one block. Tessa Stranik (Eatonville, Wash) finished with 48 assists and Desiree Larson (Blaine, Minn.) tallied 20 digs.

"It really was a dominating performance," Lester said, whose team led from start to finish in each of the three games vs. Wartburg. "It was great to see us end (the tournament) on such a high note like this."

Especially after the way the day started.

Simpson broke open a tight game in the opener, scoring four straight points to take a 13-7 lead. SMU got to within one, 25-24, but the Storm scored five of the game's final six points to ice the win. The Cardinals appeared to have the match knotted at 1-1, but the Storm again used a big run, rallying from a 28-26 deficit to win 30-28.

The Cardinals regrouped in impressive fashion to run away with Game 3, winning easily, 30-24, but the Storm turned the tables in Game 4, rallying from an early 12-6 deficit to tie the game 17-17 — and they never looked back, ending the match on a 13-7 run.

"We had three straight free balls (in that fourth game), and they scored on them — that's a six-point swing," said Lester. "This was the type of match that really showed how important it is to capitalize on the opportunities you have."

Dingels recorded a match-high 20 kills, while Megan Roesler (St. Paul, Minn.) added 11 and five blocks. Stranik posted 49 assists and 14 digs, and Tracy Koertgen (Crystal Lake, Ill.) tallied seven kills and 14 digs.