Coe Match Summary / Central-Iowa Match Summary / GameDay Preview

DUBUQUE, Iowa — For the second day in a row, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team collected back-to-back nonconference wins Saturday.

And for the second year in a row, those two wins capped a perfect 4-0 run through the MIAC-IIAC Border Battle Field.

The Cardinals made it look easy in their opening match Saturday, cruising to a 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-19) win over Coe, then were stretched to the max, before outlasted Central-Iowa 3-2 (25-22, 20-25, 16-25, 26-24, 15-10).

“It was a good weekend for us,” understated SMU coach Mike Lester. “It was kind of an odd feeling, walking into this gym for this tournament knowing that we had a target on our backs — we were the team that the Iowa schools wanted to knock off.”

Try as they might, however, no one could take down the red-hot Cardinals.

“I thought we played very well — several people stepped up and really got after it this weekend,” said Lester. “We know how important winning region matches is — and the Iowa schools are all region opponents, so this was a great weekend in that regard.”

Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) and Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) each collected 12 kills in the Cardinals' 3-0 win over Coe, while Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out 29 assists and Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) and Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) each finished with 12 digs.

Cherwinka was the brightest of stars for the Cardinals against Central-Iowa, recording a career-high eight kills, while also dishing out 47 assists en route to earning all-tournament honors. Gardner hammered out 19 kills, while Mate and Kujak each chipped in 12, and Rasmussen recorded 21 digs.

The Cardinals, who have now won six in a row to improve to 14-3 overall, are back in action on Wednesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for nonconference matches against Northwestern (Minn.) and Crown.