Match Summary
WINONA, Minn. — They made it look easy in Game 1 — it was the rest of the match that the Saint Mary's University volleyball team made difficult.
Fortunately for the Cardinals, the end result was a victory — a not-so-easy 3-1 (30-11,, 30-24, 28-30, 30-24) triumph over Augsburg at the SMU Gym Wednesday evening.
"You've got to give Augsburg a lot of credit — after that first game, they came back and really played us tough," said SMU coach
Mike Lester. "I knew (after the first game) that the rest of the match wasn't going to be quite that easy, and everyone really did a nice job of staying focused."
Which isn't all that easy after scoring the first eight points of the opening game and 19 of the first 23 en route to the lopsided Game 1 win.
"We served very well in that first game," said Lester, whose team collected six aces — including four by
Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa) in Game 1 alone. "And (Augsburg) was giving us a lot of free balls – and when you give us free balls like that, we're as good as any team in the MIAC."
Nothing came free in Games 2, 3 and 4, however, as SMU had to rally from an early 7-3 deficit to win Game 2, then allowed the Auggies to score the final two points of a see-saw Game 3, before icing the win with a 13-3 run that turned an 11-11 tie into a commanding 24-14 SMU advantage.
"We weren't as sharp in the third or fourth game," admitted Lester. "Our serve receive broke down, and we struggled to get into our offense. Fortunately, we got the momentum back with that (13-3) run and hung on for the win."
A win that Lester admits, is a big one for his Cardinals.
"We did not play exceptionally well on Monday (in a 3-0 loss to cross-town rival Winona State), so it was nice for us to get back on track," said Lester. "Mathematically, we still have an outside shot at getting into the (MIAC's) top six (which would earn SMU a spot in the conference tournament).
"But right now, our focus is to make sure to stay in the (MIAC's) top eight — those are the teams that qualify for (next year's) Border Battle," continued Lester, whose team went 3-1 in this year's Border Battle – a tournament pitting the top eight teams in the MIAC against the top eight teams in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. "That's our goal right now, to earn a spot in next year's Border Battle — so every match, every win, is important."
