But the Cardinal head coach also knew one other very important piece of information: If his Cardinals were going to even get considered for one of those for Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff scenarios, they had to do one thing first – beat Gustavus.

Mission accomplished.

And invitation delivered.

Match Summary

The Cardinals took care of the Gusties in the teams' regular-season finale Saturday, as Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) hammered out a match-high 16 kills and Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) chipped in 15 in a 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 28-26, 25-16) conference win, putting SMU into a four-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings.

And into the conference tournament, thanks to one of those aforementioned scenarios.

Concordia and Augsburg earned the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, going 2-1 against other tied teams, while SMU and St. Catherine were still tied for No. 6, having gone 1-2 vs. the other tied teams. SMU broke then broke that tie for sixth – thanks to its 3-2 win over the Wildccats earlier this month.

Along with the efforts of Kujak and Gardner, SMU also got 13 kills from Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) – who hit a team-best .387 – while Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out 54 assists. Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) and Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn.) each eclipsed the 20-dig plateau, as Rasmussen recorded 21 digs, while Runge finished with 20.

"We came into this match knowing what we had to do - and the ladies went out and did it," said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team is making its second straight conference tournament appearance. "We knew that if we went out and took care of our business, we would be just fine.

"It's nice to get back (into the conference tournament) and everyone's excited about what the future holds."

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 21-8 – giving them their highest win total since 2004, when SMU went 21-10. SMU will open conference tournament play on Tuesday, traveling to St. Olaf for a 7 p.m. contest.