Match Summary

WHITEWATER, Wis. — It was an old-and-new kind of tournament for the Saint Mary's University volleyball team at the UW-Whitewater Invitational.

On the "old" side, was a rematches with the University of Dubuque and Simpson.

While on the "new" side, was a shot at fifth-ranked UW-Whitewater and a second-day matchup against UW-Platteville.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, old or new didn't make one bit of difference, as UW-Whitewater and the University of Dubuque both handed SMU 3-0 setbacks, while Simpson and UW-Platteville came away with 3-1 wins over the Cardinals.

"It was a struggle," admitted SMU coach Mike Lester. "It's been a long season, and we kind of showed the wear and tear it's taken on us."

Megan Roesler (St. Paul, Minn.) led the Cardinals' offensive attack in each of the four matches, posting seven kills against UW-Whitewater, 14 kills vs. the University of Dubuque, 17 kills against Simpson and a weekend-best 20 in the loss to UW-Platteville.

"Megan was the brightest spot for us this weekend," said Lester. "We did not play exceptionally well in any of the matches — but the teams we were pretty good, too. UW-Whitewater is No. 5 in the nation for a reason, Dubuque and Simpson both played us tough in the Border Battle (two weeks ago) and were tough again this week, and Platteville has a solid team.

"It was a tough tournament."

And, Lester admits, a tough season.

"I give this team credit — they hung in there and played hard all season," said Lester, whose team ended the season 10-19, including losses in its last six matches. "There were plenty of opportunities this year in which they could have thrown in the towel, but they didn't — they kept working hard and never stopped striving to improve.

"We have such a condensed season — we're playing four or five matches in a week, and to try and get mentally and physically up for every match is very hard," continued Lester. "We weren't able to do that this weekend — we just ran out of gas."