NORTHFIELD, Minn. — They were supposed to be a nail-biters.
At least that's the way it appeared on paper.
The Saint Mary's University volleyball team entered Friday's opening day of the MIAC-IIAC Border Battle riding a “meager” two-match winning streak, while their first opponent, Cornell, arrived on the heels of a nine-match win streak, and their second, Luther, had won its last nine in a row.
Either, things weren't quite as they appeared, or the Cardinals were that good.
SMU coach Mike Lester would pick the latter.
“We played really, really well,” said Lester after watching his squad rout the Rams in three straight 25-15, 25-17, 25-22, then complete a perfect 2-0 day with another 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-16) rout, this one against Luther. “We've been a little up-and-down lately, but (against Cornell) we started out at a very high level and stayed there the entire match.”
And the Cardinals picked up right where they left off in their second match, making things look even easier against yet another red-hot opponent.
“Those are two big wins for us,” Lester said. “Both Cornell and Luther came into the tournament with pretty impressive winning streaks — they are very good teams, we just picked the right time to be at the top of our game.
“It was fun to watch the way we played today,” added Lester. “The effort, the energy, the enthusiasm, it was just a great day — the type of day we really needed.”
Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn.) and Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals against Cornell, collecting eight kills each, while Runge added 15 digs and Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out 28 assists.
Against Luther, Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) led the way with 16 kills, while Kujak chipped in 11 kills and four blocks. Cherwinka tallied 39 assists and nine digs, and Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) and Runge recorded 17 and 15 digs, respectively.
“It's always nice to open a tournament with back-to-back wins,” said Lester, whose team — which improved to 14-5 with the two wins — squares off against the University of Dubuque and Buena Vista during Saturday's second day of the two-day tournament. “It's good to see us put together two solid matches like this — now we have to make sure not to let down at all when we get back on the court (Saturday).”
