ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, traveling to Macalester for a 7 p.m. match against the Scots



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC | 5-4 Overall)
At Macalester Scots (0-0 MIAC | 5-5 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals split their four matches at the Bethany Lutheran Tournament last weekend in Mankato, Minn. SMU opened with 3-0 losses to UW-Superior and Wartburg on Friday, then rebounded with a 3-1 win over UW-Oshkosh and a 3-0 sweep of Bethany Lutheran on Saturday. … Macalester, meanwhile, split its four matches at the Cal Lutheran Tournament in Thousand Oaks, Calif., last weekend. Macalester swept by Mills (Calif.) and Wesley (Del.) by 3-0 scores, while falling to Redlands (3-0) and Pomona Pitzer (3-1).

SMU vs. Macalester — Their Last Meeting:
Sept. 14, 2011: If the Cardinals were feeling any jet lag following their trip to Beverly, Mass., last weekend, they certainly didn't show it. The Cardinals kicked off their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season in impressive fashion at the SMU Gym, cruising to a 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-22) victory over Macalester.

Up Next:
The Cardinals are off until next Wednesday, when they return home for a 7 p.m. conference match against St. Catherine at the SMU Gym. … Macalester, meanwhile, is right back in action this Friday and Saturday, hosting the two-day Macalester Invitational. The Scots will face Presentation (S.D.) and the University of Dubuque on Friday, before closing out the tourney with matches against UM-Morris and UW-Superior on Saturday.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
The Cardinals enter Wednesday's conference opener at Macalester riding a two-match winning streak. … SMU's 3-1 win over UW-Oshkosh Saturday snapped the Cardinals' season-high three-match losing streak. … Last Wednesday's 3-1 loss to UW-La Crosse marked the only time this season the Cardinals have dropped a match when winning the opening set. … Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn.) collected a team-high 42 kills during SMU's four matches at the Bethany Lutheran Tournament last weekend. The freshman outside hitter racked up a career-high 13 kills in SMU's 3-0 win over host Bethany Lutheran last Saturday. … Sullivan has now recorded 10 or more kills in three straight matches. … Carissa Hahn (Hutchinson, Minn.) chipped in 26 kills last weekend. Sullivan and Hahn were two of six Cardinals to record 15 or more kills in SMU's four tournament matches. … Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) finished with 92 assists over the weekend — giving her 263 assists for the season and 1,513 for her three-year collegiate career. … Sullivan and Cathy Rennie (Pine Island, Minn.) each had five service aces at the Bethany Lutheran Tournament, while Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) tallied a team-leading 72 digs. … SMU's 2-2 showing at the Bethany Lutheran Tournament marked just the second time in their last seven regular-season tournaments that SMU has not gone 3-1. … With their 3-1 showing at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic on Aug. 31-Sept. 1, the Cardinals improved to 16-2 record in their last four Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic and are now 42-22 in the tournament's 16-year history.

Scouting The Macalester Scots:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
Wednesday's conference opener against Saint Mary's is the first home match of the season for Macalester, which played its first 10 matches on the road. … All five of the Scots' wins this year have been by 3-0 decisions — including sweeps of Mills (Calif.) and Weseley (Del.) last weekend at the Cal Lutheran Tournament in Thousand Oaks, Calif. … Laura Avena — who led the MIAC in aces and was second in kills en route to her First-Team All-MIAC selection in 2011 — kicks off conference play as the team leader in kills with 96 (3.84 kps), while also hitting a team-best .335. … Avena has accounted for nearly one-third of the Scots' 328 total kills. … Anna Munson is the team-leader in assists (98), while Avena and Giasha Marcon have been the team's ace leaders with 19 and 15, respectively. … Marcon also eclipsed the 100-dig plateau last weekend and enters Wednesday's match with a team-best 109 digs. … Macalester's 3-0 wins over Crown on Sept. 5 and Mills on Sept. 7 mark the only time this season the Scots have won — or lost — back-to-back games.