Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team's hopes of qualifying for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament were slim heading into Friday's match against defending conference champion Carleton.

And the Knights promptly escorted Slim out of the SMU Gym, getting 19 kills from Alivia Bryan and 16 from Danielle Hargreaves in handing the Cardinals a 3-1 (30-18, 30-19, 29-31, 30-14) setback.

"You have to give Carleton a lot of credit — they are a very, very good team," said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team dropped to 3-7 in the MIAC and 10-14 overall with the loss. "They are solid from top to bottom. The showed tonight that they deserved to be ranked in No. 13 (in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll).

"I don't think the final score is really an indication of the way the match went," continued Lester, whose team had won five of its last seven — including back-to-back MIAC wins over Augsburg and St. Olaf — prior to facing the Knights. "We had stretches where were didn't play all that well, but we also had stretches where we played exceptionally well."

Like Game 3.

After struggling to keep up in losing Games 1 and 2, the Cardinals led from start to finish in the third game, hitting .273 as a team and getting five kills from Amy Benz (Oshkosh, Wis.) and four from Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa).

"That third game was as good as we've played all season," said Lester, whose Cardinals led by as many as four, 22-18, and broke a 29-29 tie with two straight points — the last on a kill by Megan Roesler (St. Paul, Minn.) to force a fourth game. "That game really said a lot about the make up of this team. They could have easily given up after the way things went in those first two games, but they didn't — they hung in there and battled right to the end."

The Knights weren't about to let the Cardinals — and Slim – hang around much longer, however, as Carleton jumped out to a 10-6 lead to open the fourth game and never looked back in winning for the sixth straight time.

"It's tough to lose a match like that — especially on Senior Night — but the ladies gave it everything they had," said Lester, noting that Benz, Lisa Engdahl (North Branch, Minn.), Beth Schubert (Naperville, Ill.), Rachel Rivers (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Desiree Larson (Blaine, Minn.) played in front of their home fans for the last time in their collegiate careers Friday. "They certainly don't have anything to hang their heads about."