WINONA, Minn. – The Saint Mary's University volleyball team, coming off a perfect 4-0 run through the MIAC-IIAC Border Battle last weekend, returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with the first of two key conference matches Thursday against nationally ranked Saint Benedict.

Last Action: The Cardinals nearly made it a literal clean sweep at the MIAC-IIAC Border Battle, instead settling for a trifecta of 3-0 sweeps vs. Cornell, Luther and the University of Dubuque, before completing the tourney with a 3-1 win over Buena Vista. Saint Benedict, meanwhile, made quick work of Carleton Wednesday evening, sweeping the Knights in three straight (25-21, 25-17, 25-22).

Last Meeting: The Cardinals and Blazers met twice last year, with Saint Benedict winning the first 3-0, while SMU won the rematch 3-2 in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament.

Oct. 3, 2008: The Blazers gave SMU a first-hand look at what it takes to be considered about the nation's top NCAA Division III teams, 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.

Nov. 4, 2008: Led by the play of Jessica Larson (Pine Island, Minn.) – who collected a match-high 15 kills and hit .289 - the Cardinals, who snuck into the conference tournament as the sixth seed, knocked off third-seeded Saint Benedict 3-2 (13-25, 25-23, 26-24, 19-25, 15-13).

Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: With their 4-0 showing at the MIAC-IIAC Border Battle, the Cardinals finished 14-2 in tournament play this year – sweeping through the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, the Wartburg Tournament and the Border Battle, while going 2-2 at the Simpson Tournament. … SMU enters tonight's match having won six straight, which is two wins shy of their season-high eight-match winning streak. … The Cardinals rank 17th in NCAA Division III in assists-per-set (11.66), 21st in kills-per-set (12.74), and 30th in attack percentage (.244). …  Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) and Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) earned all-tournament honors at last weekend's MIAC-IIAC Border Battle. It was the fourth time in four tournaments that Gardner  has been named to an all-tournament team. … Gardner finished the four-tournament games with a team-leading 43 kills (3.31 kips), while hitting .363. She also had four assists, 11 aces, 27 digs and five blocks. … Kujak, meanwhile, finished with 40 kills (3.08 kps) and hit a team-best .400. The SMU junior also posted 10 aces, nine digs and a team-high 11 blocks. … With her 43 kills last weekend, Gardner pushed her team-leading total to 229. She is one of five SMU players with 100 or more kills. Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn.) and Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Minn.) each have 193, while Kujak has 188 and Jessica Larson (Pine Island, Minn.) has 149. … Kujak boasts a team-best 90 blocks, and is 24th in the NCAA in blocks-per-set (1.17), while Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault leads the team in assists (653) and Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) is the team's dig leader with 324 – and one of six Cardinals with 100 or more digs. … Runge and Mate have each eclipsed the 100 mark in both kills and digs – Runge has 193 kills and 231 digs, while Mate has 193 kills and 112 digs. … Three of SMU's five losses have been 3-0 setbacks, while the Cardinals are 8-5 in three-set matches, 5-1 in four-setters and 3-1 in matches that go the distance.

Saint Benedict Blazer Notes: CSB jumped from No. 20 to No. 16 in the latest AVCA Top 25. … With their win over Carleton Wednesday, the Blazers pushed their winning streak to 13 straight. After opening the season with just two wins in their first five matches, the Blazers have gone 16-1 over the last 17. … CSB's 3-1 win over Simpson in last Saturday's MIAC-IIAC Border Battle marked the third time this season the Blazers and Storm have faced each other. The two teams also squared off twice at the Puget Sound Tournament in early September, with CSB winning 3-0 and Simpson winning 3-2. … With more than 100 assists during last weekend's Border Battle, CSB setter Beth Hanson became CSB's all-time assists with more than 4,600 assists during her four-year career. Hanson also holds the team's single season assist record with 1,439, set during the 2008 season. … Fifteen of the Blazers' 18 wins have been three-setters. Two of CSB's four losses, meanwhile, have gone the maximum five sets.