Match Summary / GameDay Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A year ago, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team needed a win — and a little outside help — on the final day of the regular season to lock up a berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

This year, the Cardinals — despite Wednesday's heartbreaking 3-2 loss at St. Catherine — didn't have to wait until the final day of the regular season to receive one of the conference's six post-season invitations.

Thanks to a little more outside help.

Concordia, which had already earned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, held off a pesky Augsburg team 3-2 Wednesday evening — eliminating the Auggies from post-season contention and gift-wrapping a tournament berth for the Cardinals.

“We knew we were going to be in for a tough match tonight, and it was,” said Lester, whose team dropped the first set to the Wildcats (25-18), rallied to win Sets 2 (28-26) and 3 (25-15), only to fall 25-21 in Set 4 and 15-7 in the fifth and deciding set. “You have to tip you hat to St. Catherine, they served us very aggressive — we were scrambling for a lot of the match — and their two outside hitters had big nights.”

Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) and Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting 21 and 20 kills, respectively. It was the first time this season the Cardinals boasted two players with 20 or more kills. Mate added 14 digs, while Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) chipped in 15 kills and Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) finished with 43 assists. Lindsey Legatt (Sartell, Minn.) collected 28 digs, with Erica Hurley (Chatfield, Minn.) and Cherwinka each adding 15.

“It's a little bittersweet getting in (to the MIAC Tournament) on a loss, but it's a definitely better than waiting until the last day,” said Lester. “The bottom line is, if we go out and win (against the Gusties), we'll end up in the same place (fourth) as we would have had we won tonight.

“So we just have to put this one behind us and just go out and take care of business on Saturday.”