Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — It had been a week since the Saint Mary's University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Bethel in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener.

Yet, as coach Mike Lester looked out on the floor Wednesday evening, he must have felt like he had stepped back in time — exactly one week.

For the second straight match, the Cardinals hung close — but not quite close enough — as Macalester handed SMU its second straight 3-0 MIAC setback, cruising to a 33-31, 30-26, 30-22 victory at the SMU Gym.

"We've got to convince our kids that they're good, and that they can win matches,” said Lester, whose team rallied from four points down and held a 29-28 lead in the first game, only to fall two points short. “I think we believe that we can be competitive, but I don't know if we believe we can win matches.”

The Cardinals' late-game letdown in the opening game seemed to take the wind out of their sails, as Macalester led by as many as seven points on three separate occasions in rolling to a 30-26 win in Game 2, then scored the first five points of the third game and never looked back in winning 30-22.

“The game is all about momentum," said Lester, whose team fell to 0-2 in the MIAC and 4-8 overall with the loss. "We got on a couple of good runs, but then we'd miss a serve, or make a bad attack, and we'd let (Macalester) right back in — and against teams in this conference, you can't afford to do that."

Pam Stanton (Mundelein, Ill.) and Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting 12 and 11 kills, respectively. The duo also each chipped in eight digs, while Breanna Benham (Deer River, Wis.) dished out 33 assists and Theresa Perrini (Fairway, Kan.) tallied a match-high 14 digs.