NORTHFIELD, Minn. — With two matches remaining in the regular season, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team was sitting in fourth place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings.
Or seventh place — depending on whether your glass is half-full, or half-empty.
The Cardinals entered Wednesday's conference match against St. Olaf tied with three other teams for fourth place in the chase for one of the three remaining MIAC Tournament berths.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they left Skoglund Center on the short end of a 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 28-26) decision — and their post-season hopes were put on life-support.
“It's a tough (loss) to feel too bad about, because I thought we played a very good match — St. Olaf just played a bit better,” said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team dropped to 5-5 in conference play and fell into a sixth-place tie with St. Catherine with one match remaining. “We had our chances — especially in the fourth set — we just couldn't get over the hump.”
Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) picked up a team-leading 14 kills for the Cardinals, while Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) chipped in 13 and Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) tallied 11. Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) finished with 49 assists and Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) led three SMU players in double figures in digs with 13.
“It was a good, competitive match, it's disappointing that we had to come out on the short end,” Lester said. “It certainly makes Saturday's match (at Gustavus) that much more interesting.”
With the win, St. Olaf locked one of the six conference playoff spots, joining league-leaders Saint Benedict and St. Thomas. Concordia and Augsburg — which both won Wednesday evening — are tied for fourth at 6-4, while the Cardinals and St. Catherine are currently deadlocked for the sixth and final playoff spot with identical 5-5 conference, records.
SMU closes out its regular-season against Gustavus (3-6), while St. Catherine faces Macalester (0-10), Augsburg squares off against St. Thomas (9-1) and Concordia takes on Saint Benedict (9-1).
“There's still a lot that can happen,” said Lester of the conference tournament race. “But one thing is for sure — we need to take care of our business.
“A win against Gustavus is a must.”
