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Game Summary / GameDay Online

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University volleyball team entered Friday's Minnesota intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Augsburg, the Cardinals' hopes of reaching the MIAC post-season tournament were on life support.

When the Auggies knocked down their 15th point in Game 5 of the teams' marathon match, the Cardinals' playoff hopes had officially flat-lined.

The Cardinals rolled to a convincing 30-14 win in the opening game, then dropped Games 2 and 3, 30-20 and 30-24, before forcing a fifth and deciding match with a 30-25 victory in Game 4.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals' rollercoaster ride — up, then down, then up again — hit rock bottom in that fifth game, as SMU managed just four points in falling 15-4.

"Tough loss — I don't think we (as a coaching staff) did a very good job of getting them ready to play," admitted SMU coach Mike Lester "We knew what they were going to do, but I'm not sure we got that message across to the players.

"It was one of matches won first match so easily, it makes you nervous," Lester added. "After that first match, we just seemed to relax a bit, and that was all (Augsburg) needed — they just seemed to rally from that (Game 1) loss and take it to us."

Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) led the way for SMU, collecting 16 kills, while Alex Nold (Spring Valley, Minn.) — fresh off an all-tournament performance at last weekend's McDaniel (Md.) Green Terror Invitational — chipped in 11 kills. Rachel Monterastelli (Wonder Lake, Ill.) dished out 49 assists, giving the SMU freshman 1,043 assists for the season and making her just the ninth player in SMU history with 1,000 or more assists in a season.