INDIANOLA, Iowa — For the Saint Mary's University volleyball team, the first set determined the outcome of their first 11 matches.
The Cardinals headed into Saturday's Day 2 match of the Simpson Invitational 8-0 when winning the first set.
And 0-3 when losing the match's opening set.
Good thing the Cardinals don't put too much stock in things like that.
Northwestern handed SMU a 27-25 setback in the opening set of their pool play match at the Simpson Invitational Saturday morning, only to have the Cardinals rebound with wins in the next two sets en route to a 3-2 (25-27, 25-15, 26-24, 21-25, 15-10) victory.
The Cardinals then made quick work out of fellow Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Bethel in the final match of the tournament, beating the Royals 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-21) to complete the two-day event with a 2-2 record.
“I was happy to see the way we rebounded (after Friday night),” said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team moved to 10-4 overall with the two wins. “(Friday) was a tough day for us. Nebraska Wesleyan and Simpson are very good teams — there's no shame in losing those two matches, especially because I thought we played pretty well. They weren't our best matches, but they were OK.”
The Cardinals were more than OK on Saturday.
SMU got 16 kills from Sarah Garner (Rochester, Minn.) — who was named to the Simpson All-Tournament Team — and 15 kills while hitting .419 from Jessica Larson (Pine Island, Minn.) against Northwestern, while Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) had seven kills and 12 blocks, and Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) finished with 48 assists vs. the Eagles.
Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn.) and Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) led the way for the Cardinals against Bethel, recording 11 kills each, while Cherwinka finished with 36 assists and Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.), coming off a 22-dig effort vs. NWU, finished with a team-best 16 digs.
“The key for this team right now is, they have to figure out the importance of playing at the top of their game every time they step on the court,” Lester said. “This is a very good team, but they have to understand that no match is going to be easy.
“It doesn't matter who is on the other side of the net — we have to be ready to give 100 percent, nothing less.”
The Cardinals, who have now played 14 matches in the season's first three weeks, are back in action on Wednesday, returning to MIAC play with a road match against St. Thomas.
“It's been a long three weeks — we've played a lot of matches in a short period of time,” Lester said. “To be 10-4 at this stage in the season is nice, and I think this weekend was a good learning experience for us.
“It can only help us as we get back into conference play.”
