vs.
Saint Mary's Cardinals   18-12 Overall		Saint Benedict Blazers   25-6 Overall

Last Action: The Cardinals are coming off a 3-0 loss to nationally ranked Gustavus and a 3-0 nonconference victory over UW-Superior on Saturday. … Saint Benedict, meanwhile, snapped a two-match losing streak with a regular  season-ending 3-2 victory over Concordia Saturday.

How They Got Here: The Cardinals enter the MIAC playoffs as the No. 6 seed. SMU finished in a sixth-place tie with Carleton and Augsburg, and earned the final playoff berth via the second tiebreaker. Since all three teams would be 1-1 in head-to-head competition — Augsburg beat SMU, SMU beat Carleton and Carleton beat Augsburg — the next tiebreaker is “game record percentage during matches between all tied teams.” Saint Mary's was 5-3 (3-0 vs. Carleton, 2-3 vs. Augsburg); Carleton was 3-3 (3-0 vs. Augsburg, 0-3 vs. SMU) and Augsburg was 3-5 (3-2 vs. SMU, 0-3 vs. Carleton). … Saint Benedict, meanwhile, finished tied for second in the regular-season conference standings with Gustavus, but the Gusties held the tiebreaker, dropping CSB to the No. 3 seed.

Last Meeting: The Blazers gave SMU a first-hand look at what it takes to be considered among the nation's top NCAA Division III teams in their regular-season meeting on Oct. 3, as No. 22 CSB collected its 11th straight win, rolling to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-20) MIAC win over the Cardinals.

A Year Ago: The Cardinals just couldn't come up with the knock-out punch in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Saint Benedict a year ago. SMU held the lead at some point in every game — including a 27-26 advantage in Game 2 — and the Cardinals were tied with the Blazers 29-29 and were serving in Game 3. Unfortunately, in all three games, the Cardinals let the Blazers off the hook, as CSB rolled to its eighth straight win — and its fifth straight three-game sweep — beating SMU 3-0 (30-22, 30-28, 31-29) at the SMU Gym.

All-Time Series Record: With their win in early October, CSB improved to 24-9-1 all-time vs. SMU since 1981. The Blazers have won the last five meetings between the two teams, dropping just two sets combined. SMU's last win was a 3-2 victory on Sept. 24, 2004.

Cardinal Notes: The Cardinals enter tonight's match with an 18-12 overall record. SMU's 18 wins are the most since the Cardinals went 21-10 during the 2004 season, which, ironically, is also the last time they have quailed for the MIAC tournament. … The Cardinals are now 7-3 in their last 10 matches. … SMU's 3-0 loss to No. 19 Gustavus Saturday dropped the Cardinals to 0-4 against nationally ranked teams this season, having lost to No. 5 St. Thomas (3-1), No. 25 Saint Benedict (3-0), No. 12 Concordia (3-0) and No. 19 Gustavus (3-0). … With Saturday's sweeps — one win and one loss — SMU moved to 6-7 in three-set matches. Ten of SMU's 18 wins have been 3-1 decisions. … Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) and Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) enter tonight's tournament match as SMU's top offensive threats. Mate leads the team in kills (314) and kills-per-set (3.02), while Gardner is second in both categories (308 kills, 2.80 kps). … Mate also boasts a team-best 28 service aces, while Jessica Larson (Pine Island, Minn.) has collected a team-leading 84 blocks. … Theresa Perrini (Fairway, Kan.) accumulated 36 digs vs. Gustavus and UW-Superior, giving the SMU senior 662 digs this season. Perrini is just 28 digs shy of her single-season record of 690, set last season. Her 28 digs last Saturday also pushed her school-record career total to 2,124. … Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out 68 assists on Saturday, moving her within five assists of the 1,000-assist mark for the season. With five assists vs. Saint Benedict, Cherwinka will become the 10th player in Cardinal history with 1,000 or more assists in a season. …

Blazer Notes: CSB's win over Concordia Saturday snapped the Blazers' two-game losing streak — it was the first time this season Saint Benedict had lost back-to-back matches. … Saint Benedict enters tonight's match having won 19 of its last 21 matches. … The Blazers have now finished second in the conference standings in each of the last two seasons. … Saturday's win over Concordia was the 11th five-set match of the season for the Blazers, who are 9-2 in matches going the distance. CSB's two five-set losses came to MIAC opponents during nonconference tournament play (vs. St. Thomas at the Augsburg Tournament and vs. Hamline at CSB's home tournament). The Blazers are also a perfect 12-0 in three-set matches, while CSB's other three losses came by 3-1 decisions.  … Saint Benedict enters tonight's match with an 11-3 record on its home court. The Blazers are 14-2 on the road. … Emma Jaynes has been a one-woman wrecking crew for the Blazers, boasting 399 kills (3.27 kps) and his hitting .281, while also adding 25 aces, a team-best 455 digs and 61 blocks. … Jaynes is one of six players with 100 or more kills, and her 455 digs make her one of six with at least 100 digs. … Beth Hanson has dished out 1,211 assists, while Caileigh Brown is one block away from 100.