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Game Summary vs. Bethel / GameDay Online

WINONA, Minn. — In their first two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matches, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team got a taste of both ends of the spectrum — rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat Hamline in a marathon five-set match, 3-2, then needing just 80 minutes to dispatch of Macalester 3-0.

For Cardinal head coach Mike Lester, quicker is better — much less nerve-wracking.

Or so Lester thought.

The Cardinals may have made quick work of Bethel Satuday afternoon at the SMU Gym — posting their second straight 3-0 victory with a 25-18, 25-22, 27-25 win — but it certainly put a few grey hairs on the Cardinal head coach's head.

“It was a great match,” said Lester, whose Cardinals improved to 3-0 in the conference, marking the first time since 2004 that SMU has opened conference play with three straight wins. “You've got to tip your hat to Bethel — they came in with the game plan to take away our middles and make someone else beat them.

“Fortunately for us, we had people step up and do just that.”

Like Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) and Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.).

Mate collected a match-high 17 kills and hit .378 to lead the Cardinals' offensive charge, while Gardner chipped in nine kills and nine digs. Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) finished with 33 assists and 10 digs, while Theresa Perrini (Fairway, Kan.) and Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn.) recorded 22 and 11 digs, respectively. Runge also had eight kills and the Cardinals' lone ace.

The Cardinals started slow in all three sets, but once they got warmed up, they were unstoppable.  SMU outscored Bethel 17-10 to break open an 8-8 Set 1, then broke open a 10-10 tie in Set 2 to take a 23-17 lead, only to let Bethel crawl back to within one, 23-22, before scoring the set's final two points. Bethel gave the Cardinals all they could handle in the third set, leading 21-20, 22-21 and 24-23, before SMU responded by winning three of the next four points to seal the match.

“We won this match by playing great defense,” said Lester, whose team puts its three-match unbeaten streak on the line Friday, traveling to St. Joseph, Minn., to take on Saint Benedict. “We were the better defensive team today, and that's been the key for us all season long. When we play defense like we did today, we are a tough, tough team to beat.”