Match Summary
WINONA, Minn. — On Wednesday, everything came so easy to the Saint Mary's University volleyball team, as the Cardinals made it look effortless in rolling to a 3-0 victory over St. Catherine.
On Friday, nothing came easy for the Cardinals, as they squared off against Hamline in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at the SMU Gym.
But, thanks to some late-match heroics from
Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa), the end result was the same — an SMU win.
Dant collected 15 of her match-high 21 kills in the fourth and fifth games, as SMU rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Pipers 3-2 (28-30, 17-30, 30-19, 30-28, 15-12).
"I can't say enough about the resiliency of this group of individuals," SMU coach
Mike Lester said of his team. "I have to admit, when we were down 2-0, I thought we had dug ourselves too deep a hole to dig out of. But they hung right in there and never gave up.
"They battled and battled and battled, and in the end, they found a way to pull it out."
Thanks in large part to Dant.
"What can I say? (Molli) was unbelievable," said Lester of his senior outside hitter, who not only finished with a season-high 21 kills, but also hit .333 and collected 12 digs. "She really stepped up when we needed her to.
"And that goes for the rest of that group," added Lester. "We went with the same starters as we did against St. Catherine, and they didn't have quite the same energy as they did (Wednesday), so we made a switch (after the second game) and that seemed to turn the momentum in our favor."
The Cardinals struggled in those first two games, as Hamline used a 6-4 run late to win Game 1 and led from start to finish in cruising to the Game 2 win. SMU extended the match with a convincing 10-point win in Game 3, then forced a fifth and deciding game by scoring three of the last five points in winning Game 4, 30-28.
"This was a huge win for us," said Lester, whose team moves to 2-4 in the MIAC heading into Saturday's showdown with sixth-ranked St. Thomas. "We felt like Wednesday's win gave us a boost heading into (the Hamline match), and this win just gives us that much more confidence as we regroup and get ready for the Tommies."
