Aurora Summary | UW-W Summary | GameDay Preview

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team got its final tournament of the regular season off to a roaring start Friday evening, as the Cardinals outlasted Aurora 3-2 in the opening match of the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament.

It was another five-set match in the second match of the evening — unfortunately for the Cardinals, this time around, they came out on the short end, as UW-Whitewater dealt SMU the 3-2 setback.

“There was a lot of very good volleyball played tonight,” said SMU coach Mike Lester. “Both matches were battles from start to finish.”

The Cardinals dropped the opening set against the Spartans 27-25, but rallied to win Set 2, 25-18. Aurora took a 2-1 advantage with its second two-point win (25-23) in the third set, and the Cardinals tied things 2-2 with a 30-28 win in a marathon fourth set, then clinched the five-set victory with a 15-11 victory in the fifth set.

The match against UW-Whitewater was virtually a mirror image of their opening match, as the Cardinals lost the first (25-22) and third sets (25-22), while winning the second (25-23) and fourth (25-19). This time around, however, SMU did not have any fifth-set magic, as the Warhawks sealed the win with a 15-10 victory in the final set.

Kara Grant (Peosta, Ill.) and Molly Grover (Zumbrota, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals against Aurora, as Grant recorded a team-high 19 kills, while Grover chipped in a career-best 15 kills and hit over .500 for the five-set match. Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) finished with 44 assists, with Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) posting 22 digs and Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) adding eight blocks.

Carissa Hahn (Hutchinson, Minn.) had the hot hand against UW-Whitewater, as the junior outside hitter recorded a career-high 20 kills. Grant added 11 kills and Nordick finished with 10 kills and seven blocks. Assimos followed up her 49-assist effort against Aurora with 45 assists vs. the Warhawks, and Rasmussen tallied a team-best 27 digs.

The Cardinals (14-11 overall) close out the two-day tournament on Saturday, taking on North Park at 10 a.m. and host North Central at noon.