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WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University volleyball team plays in system, it is pretty much unbeatable.

It's when teams force them out of their game plan that they become vulnerable.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the College of St. Benedict did just that Tuesday evening.

The Blazers kept the Cardinals out of system — and off-balance — for most of the match, as Saint Benedict knocked SMU out of the MIAC Tournament with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-16, 12-25, 25-15) victory at the SMU Gym.

“(St. Ben's) did their job extremely well,” said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team falls to 21-10. “They served aggressively, got us out of system, and we really struggled with them.”

It wasn't until the third set that the Cardinals could finally gather any positive momentum.

Trailing in sets 2-0, SMU raced out to an 11-3 advantage in the third set and never looked back — getting the home crowd back into the match, and giving themselves some hope.

“When we were in system tonight, like we were in the third set, we were pretty untouchable,” Lester said. “Unfortunately, they kept us out of that a lot.”

Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, collectinga match-high 19 kills, while Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) chipped in 14. With those 14 kills, Mate moved past Tracy Koertgen and into fifth all-time in career kills with 1,306. Brittany Cherinwka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out 40 assists and Lindsey Legatt (Sartell, Minn.) tallied 14 digs.

With the loss, the Cardinals must take a wait-and-see approach, as they look to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

“We're going to continue to practice until they tell us to stop,” said Lester, whose squad will learn its fate when the NCAA tournament bids are announced on Monday. “The girls deserve to get in, but you never know what will happen.”