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WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University volleyball team took to the court Wednesday evening for its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against St. Catherine, Cardinal head coach Mike Lester had a pretty good idea what to expect from the Wildcats.

But then, SCU coach Corey Phelps had a pretty good handle on the Cardinals' game plan as well.

Considering Phelps served as Lester's assistant at SMU for a number of years, that's to be expected.

So was a match that went right down to the wire.

The Cardinals raced out to a 2-0 lead, but St. Catherine stormed back with back-to-back wins in Sets 3 and 4 to force a fifth and decisive set — a set SMU grabbed an early lead and never relinquished it, winning 16-14 to seal the 3-2 (25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 24-26, 16-14) MIAC victory.

“We knew going into the match that there weren't going to be too many secrets,” said Lester. “In fact, that's exactly what we talked about after the match  — they knew what we were going to do, and we knew what they were going to do.

“It was a fun match — both teams played very well and, fortunately, we were able to come out on top in the end.”

The Cardinals appeared to have things under control, holding a 2-1 lead and a 24-22 advantage in the fourth set. SCU, however, rattled off four straight points to earn the 26-24 win and force the fifth set.

In the fifth set, SMU scored the first two points and led 13-9, before the Wildcats made things interesting, using a 5-1 run to tie the match at 14-14. The Cardinals then got back-to-back kills from Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) and Megan Leisen (Kellogg, Minn.) to seal the win — their fourth straight.

Nordick finished with a team-high 14 kills, while Colleen Seba (Maple Grove, Minn.) chipped in 11 and Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) collected a season-high 42 assists. Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) recorded a match-high 23 digs — one shy of her career high — with Carissa Hahn (Hutchinson, Minn.) and Cathy Rennie (Pine Island, Minn.) adding 16 and 15 digs, respectively.

Brittini Wangerin recorded a match-high 15 kills to lead three Wildcats in double figures, while Ashley Kahlow and Jordyn Wentland dished out 25 and 23 assists, respectively.

The Cardinals (2-0 MIAC, 7-4 overall) are back in action on Saturday, hosting Augsburg in a 3 p.m. conference match at the SMU Gym.