WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team, coming off a 2-2 showing at the North Central (Ill.) Invitational last weekend in Naperville, Ill., begin its final conference-tournament push on Friday, playing host to Macalester in a 7 p.m. match.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals: 4-3 MIAC / 18-8 Overall
Macalester Scots: 1-6 MIAC / 11-14 Overall

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Last Action:
The Cardinals went 2-2 at the North Central (Ill.) Tournament in Naperville, Ill., last weekend, beating Wheaton (3-0) and North Central (3-0), while falling to a pair of nationally ranked teams — No. 12 Hope (3-1) and No. 9 Calvin (3-0). Macalester, meanwhile, stepped out of conference play on Wednesday, beating North Central (Minn.) 3-1 in a home match.

Last Meeting — October 23, 2009:
Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) recorded a match-high 16 kills and Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) finished with 37 assists, as the Cardinals rolled to a 3-0 conference win over the Scots in St. Paul, Minn.

MIAC Playoff Picture — Top 6 Earn MIAC Berths:
SMU enters its weekend matches against Macalester and Bethel holding down the No. 5 spot in the race for one of the MIAC's six conference tournament berths. St. Thomas (7-1), St. Olaf (6-1) and Concordia (6-1) all have one loss, while Saint Benedict (6-2) is in fourth place with two, while SMU (4-3) is fifth with three and Augsburg (4-4), Bethel (3-4) and St. Catherine (3-4) all have four.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Central Region Poll. The five teams ahead of SMU — Washington U in St. Louis, St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Concordia and Nebraska Wesleyan — are all also ranked in the AVCA Top 25. … With their 2-2 finish at the North Central (Ill.) Invitational last weekend, the Cardinals finished 2010 with a 13-3 record in the four tournaments they appeared in. … Six of SMU's eight losses — including last Friday's 3-1 setback to No. 12 Hope and Saturday's 3-0 loss to No. 9 Calvin — have come against nationally ranked teams. … Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.), who led the Cardinals with 52 kills (4.00 kps) — while hitting .279, collecting five aces, 43 digs and six blocks — was named to the North Central Invitational All-Tournament Team. … Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.), who led the team with 15 kills in the Cardinals' loss to nationally ranked St. Olaf last Wednesday, also had a big weekend, totaling 43 kills, five aces, 15 digs and three blocks. … Gardner leads four SMU players with 100 or more kills, boasting a team-best 337, while Mate is second with 281, followed by Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis. / 228) and Carissa Hahn (Hutchinson, Minn. / 140). … Kujak also leads the team in attack percentage at .313. … Gardner enters this weekend's matches with 1,327 career kills. She currently ranks No. 4 all-time, just 52 kills shy of the No. 3 spot, currently held by Amanda Edmond. … Mate, meanwhile, heads into the weekend with 1,233 career kills, putting her at No. 7 all-time, 16 kills behind Kirsten Rouzer for No. 6. … Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out 93 assists in SMU's four tournament matches last weekend, giving her 642 for the season and 2,969 for her Cardinal career. Cherwinka currently ranks second all-time program history in career assists. … SMU has five players with 20 or more aces, led by Gardner with 32 and Kujak with 28. … The Cardinals rank eighth in NCAA Division III in kills-per-set (13.43) and 13th in assists-per-set (12.17). … Eleven of the Cardinals' 18 wins have been 3-0 sweeps — including both wins at last weekend's North Central Invitational. SMU is also a perfect 3-0 in five-set matches, thanks to two 3-2 wins over Loras and 3-2 victory over Central-Iowa.

Macalester Scots News and Notes:
The Scots' 3-1 win over North Central snapped their season-high four-match losing streak. … Majra Mucic collected a match-high 21 kills for Macalester against North Central, while Laura Avena finished with 16 kiills, seven digs and five aces. … Danielle Dweck dished out a season-high 40 assists vs. North Central Wednesday. … With her 21 kills Wednesday, Mucic pushed her team-leading total to 302 (3.36 kps). She also leads the team in attack percentage at .305. … Steffanie Fisher and Dweck have shared the setting details for the Scots this season, with Fisher boasting 519 assists, while Dweck has 129. … The Scots have six players with 10 or more aces, led by Avena (36) and Glasha Marcon (35). … Kiera Coulter boasts a team-best 238 digs and is one of five players with 100 or more digs this season. … Wednesday's win over North Central improved Macalester to 3-2 in four-set matches. The Scots are 6-9 in three-setters and 2-3 in matches that go the maximum five sets.