Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Thanks to Friday's 3-1 win over North Park and 3-2 victory over UW-Oshkosh, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team headed into Saturday's second day of the North Central Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament riding a pair of impressive streaks.

The two Friday wins pushed SMU's current winning streak to six in a row — while also pushing the Cardinals' win total to 14 straight victories in regular-season tournament play.

Unfortunately, both runs came to a screeching halt early Saturday, as Wheaton (Ill.) survived a furious come-from-behind effort from the Cardinals in handing SMU a streak-snapping 3-2 setback.

Unfazed by the heartbreaking setback earlier in the day, the Cardinals took out their frustrations on North Central, sweeping the tournament hosts 3-0.

Wheaton raced out to a quick 2-0 lead with 25-23 and 25-13 wins in the first two sets in SMU's first match of Day 2, but the Cardinals bounced back, winning Set 3 in convincing fashion, 25-14.

It appeared that Wheaton would wrap up its win over SMU in the fourth set, boasting a 20-16 advantage. The Cardinals, however, had other ideas, rattling off eight straight points en route to a come-from-behind 25-21 win to force a fifth and deciding set.

The Thunder led from start to finish in the final set — and scored the final four points to complete the 3-2 victory.

Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) enjoyed a career night against Wheaton, as the junior banged out a team-high 19 kills — eclipsing her previous collegiate best of 18 kills, recorded against Luther in 2012 — while also hitting a stellar .548. Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) chipped in 17 kills, while Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) dished out 44 assists and Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) and Jordan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn.) tallied 19 and 14 digs, respectively.

The Cardinals — who posted their 11th 3-0 sweep of the season with the 25-23, 25-14, 25-21 victory over North Central — got a team-high 17 kills from Kenzie Lind (Rushford, Minn.) in their second match Saturday, while Peterson chipped in 12 kills, and Assimos finished with 38 assists and a team-best 14 digs.

The Cardinals, who improve to 20-6 — marking the seventh time in coach Mike Lester's 16 seasons that SMU has reached the 20-win plateau — are now off until Friday, when SMU returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7 p.m. match against St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn.