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WINONA, Minn. — On paper, it looked like a classic battle of David vs. Goliath.

St. Thomas, entered Friday night's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Saint Mary's ranked No. 7 in the latest AVCA national poll — not to mention boasting a 28-1 overall record and an NCAA Division III-best 23-match winning streak.

Saint Mary's, meanwhile, was looking to break out of a three-match slide, while solidifying their position in the chase for an MIAC post-season berth.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals' slingshot wasn't nearly enough to slay the Tommies, as St. Thomas cruised to their eighth straight conference win — and 24th-straight victory overall — with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-19) victory at the SMU Gym.

“You've got to tip you hat to (St. Thomas) — they are very good, and they showed that here tonight,” said SMU coach Mike Lester. “I thought we did a lot of very good things out there, we just couldn't match their firepower.”

The Tommies were virtually unstoppable in the first two sets — outscoring SMU 10-4 en route to their Set 1 win, then using a 15-7 set-ending run to ice the win in Set 2.

The Cardinals weren't about to go down without a fight, scoring the first five points of the third set, while also owning a 16-14 advantage. From there, however, it was all UST, as the Tommies scored 11 of the set's final 14 points to seal the win.

Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) finished with a team-high 10 kills for the Cardinals, while Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) dished out 22 assists and Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) recorded 17 digs.

Kelly Foley led a balanced UST offensive attack, posting nine kills, while Paige Brimeyer and Sara Atkinson each chipped in eight. Katie Maher finished with 24 assists and Sarah Krosbab added 18, with Kaiti Wachter and Jill Greenfield chipping in a team-best 14 digs.

The Cardinals (3-5 MIAC, 12-13 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, hosting Hamline in a 3 p.m. conference match at the SMU Gym.