Marian Box | UW-Marathon Box | GameDay Preview

RIPON, Wis. — After going the maximum five sets in their first two matches of the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational on Friday, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team decided to take a little different approach to their final two matches: Short, sweet and to the point.

The Cardinals weren't about to have a repeat of Friday's performance when they took the court Saturday for its final two matches of the two-day tournament, as SMU rolled to a 3-1 win over Marian, then swept past UW-Marathon County 3-0 to finish the weekend at 3-1.

“To go 3-1 is nice — especially closing out the tournament the way we did (against UW-Marathon),” said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team opened the tourney with a 3-2 win over Lakeland and a 3-2 loss against Coe on Friday. “We played pretty well (against Marian) to open play today, but we still played to the level of our competition. But against Marathon, we really stepped things up and played the way we are capable — and that was really good to see.”

There was nothing easy about the Cardinals' match against Marian, with the first three sets all being decided by two points — SMU won Sets 1 and 3, 27-25 and 29-27, respectively, while Marian was the second set 25-23 — before Saint Mary's sealed the win with a convincing 25-13 victory in the fourth set.

And the Cardinals picked up right where they left off against UW-Marathon, winning 25-14, 25-16, 25-14.

Kara Grant (Peosta, Iowa) collected a team-best 21 kills and added 20 digs against Marian, while Sabrina Bushlack (Mapleton, Minn.) added 18 kills. Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) recorded her second-straight 51-assist performance vs. the Sabres, while Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) posted a team-leading 23 digs and Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) finished with five blocks.

Bushlack was the team's offenseive leader against UW-Marathon, putting up 11 kills, while Nordick, Kaylee Bunne (LeRoy, Minn.) and Molly Grover (Zumbrota, Minn.) all chipped in six. Megan Leisen (Kellogg, Minn.) dished out 28 assists, with Megan Schulz (Andover, Minn.) and Nordick finishing with 10 digs and 10 blocks, respectively.

The Cardinals, who improve to 10-5 overall, return to action on Wednesday, hosting nationally ranked St. Olaf in a 7 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at the SMU Gym.