INDIANOLA, Iowa — Saint Mary's University volleyball coach
Mike Lester will be the first to admit that playing a team twice in a short period of time is certainly not an ideal situation.
The Cardinals made it look easy when they faced Loras in back-to-back tournaments earlier this season — beating the Duhawks 3-0 at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic two weeks ago and 3-1 at last weekend's Wartburg Tournament.
SMU squared off against another “familiar” opponent in their opening round of the Simpson Invitational Friday afternoon, as the Cardinals squared off against Nebraska Wesleyan — a team they swept 3-0 at the Wartburg Tournament.
Friday's rematch proved to be a second straight sweep between the two teams – unfortunately for the Cardinals, this time around it was the Prairie Wolves who came away with the 3-0 (27-25, 25-18, 25-19) victory.
And things just went from bad to worse for the Cardinals in their second match, as Simpson handed SMU its second loss in as many matches with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) decision.
“It just wasn't our day,” said Lester, whose team lost back-to-back matches for the first time this season. “Everyone was pretty down after Wednesday's loss (to Augsburg) and we just haven't seemed to recover yet.\
“We just didn't play today the way we have been playing.”
Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting 10 kills, five digs and three blocks against Nebraska Wesleyan, then notching a team-best nine kills vs. Simpson.
Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) finished the two matches with a combined 33 assists, while Rachel Monterastelli (Wonder Lake, Ill.) chipped in 11 assists vs. Simpson.
The Cardinals, who fall to 8-3 with the two tournament losses, are back in action Saturday , squaring off against Northwestern in the final pool play match of the Wartburg Tournament.
