Match Summary
WINONA, Minn. — If there was one thing the Saint Mary's University volleyball team was consistent at during the two-day SMU Sugar Loaf Classic, it was being inconsistent.
The Cardinals' inconsistency haunted them in Friday's losses to Carthage and Wartburg, and it was more of the same on Saturday, as SMU dropped a heartbreaking 3-2, 30-27, 25-30, 30-20, 29-31, 17-15 decision to UW-Superior, before bouncing back with a hard-fought 3-1, 21-30, 30-28, 30-12, 33-31 triumph over Luther.
"It's hard to feel too disappointed, because we really did play some very good volleyball," said SMU coach
Mike Lester. "The problem we, at times, we also played some not-so-good volleyball. Inconsistency was a real problem this weekend.
"We played two very tough matches (Saturday) and in both of those — as well as the Superior match Friday night) — we could have easily come away with wins in all three," Lester continued. "Take away about seven points, and we could have very easily been 3-1 in this tournament, rather than 1-3."
Unfortunately for Lester, those seven points counted, as his Cardinals did have to settle for a 1-3 tournament record.
"We showed some signs of just how good a team we can be," said Lester, whose team moved to 4-5 overall. "There were some games that we were just awesome — and that's what we have to focus on. The talent and the ability are there, we just have to find a way to play at that high level all the time."
The Cardinals' match against UW-Superior on Saturday was a perfect example of that, as SMU was outscored 4-1 down the stretch to lose Game 1, jumped out to a 9-1 lead and held on for dear life to win Game 2, allowed the Yellowjackets to end Game 3 on a 13-2 run, then forced a decisive Game 5 with a 31-29 marathon in Game 4.
"That match was a see-saw affair the entire way," said Lester, whose team fell behind 5-1 to start the fifth game, tied things up 14-14, but then dropped three of the next four points. "We're putting ourselves in position to win matches, we just haven't quite figured out how to finish teams off — but that's to be expected with a young team.
"We did the same thing against Luther," continued Lester. "We struggled with inconsistency in the first two games, then dominated the third game (30-12). We were in control in the fourth game as well, but we let (Luther) back in and had to scratch and claw at the end to get the win."
Lisa Engdahl (North Branch, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting 41 kills in the team's two Saturday matches — including a career-high 23-kill effort vs. Luther.
Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa) added 26 kills in the two matches, while
Michelle Mino (Austin, Minn.) tallied 84 assists on the day.
"It would have been nice to end the weekend 3-1, but I'm happy with our play," said Lester, whose team opens conference play on Wednesday, when they play host to Bethel in a 7 p.m. match. "We did lot of good things out there — and the things that we didn't do well, as things that we can correct in practice.
"All-in-all, it was a good weekend for us."
