WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team — which locked up an MIAC playoff berth with a win last Saturday — closes out its regular-season schedule on Saturday, as the Cardinals host defending national champion St. Thomas in a 3 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at the SMU Gym.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-4 MIAC | 23-7 Overall) vs. #4 St. Thomas Tommies (9-1 MIAC | 25-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals clinched a spot in the six-team MIAC post-season tournament last Saturday, as the Cardinals collected a 3-1 conference win over Gustavus in St. Peter, Minn. … St. Thomas — already assured a berth in the conference tournament — stepped out of MIAC play on Wednesday, cruising to a 3-0 nonconference win over Northwestern in St. Paul, Minn.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
October 19, 2012: On paper, it looked like a classic battle of David vs. Goliath. St. Thomas, entered its 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. SMU, 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.

Up Next:
Saturday's match is the regular-season finale for both the Cardinals and the Tommies. SMU and St. Thomas will be back in action next week, as both the Cardinals and Tommies have locked up berths in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season tournament. SMU will be the tournament's No. 5 seed and travel to Moorhead, Minn., for a 7 p.m. match against Concordia, while the Tommies have locked up the No. 1 or No. 2 seed and will receive a first-round bye.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
Saturday's match against St. Thomas is the final home collegiate match for SMU seniors Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) and Kaylee Bunne (LeRoy, Minn.). … With their 3-1 win over Gustavus last Saturday, the Cardinals earned their first post-season appearance since 2010. … SMU's victory over Gustavus last Saturday was its 23nd win of the season — the most wins in a season since 2000, when the Cardinals won 27 en route to their first-ever MIAC regular-season title and an NCAA Division III national tournament appearance. … The Cardinals have won 20 or more matches seven times under coach Mike Lester. … SMU heads into its regular-season finale against defending national champion St. Thomas with an 11-2 record over its last 13 matches. … With their win over Gustavus, the Cardinals improved to 15-3 on the road this season. … Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) — who accounted for 20 of the Cardinals' 47 kills in their sweep of St. Olaf on Oct. 23 — put together an 18-kill effort against Gustavus last Saturday. … Peterson has eclipsed 20 kills in a match twice this season — collecting 20 kills vs. St. Olaf on Oct. 23 and a career-high 23 kills against Central (Iowa) on Oct. 4. … Peterson's 23-kill match against Central (Iowa) on Oct. 4 was the most by a Cardinal this season and the most since Kara Grant recorded 26 kills against Clarke on Sept. 30, 2011. … Peterson has notched 10 or more kills in 18 straight matches and 28 times in the Cardinals' 30 matches this season. … Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) and Kenzie Lind (Rushford, Minn.) have also put together career-high kill performances this season. Nordick notched a career-best 19 kills against Wheaton (Ill.) on Oct. 12, while Lind has recorded a career-best 17 kills twice — against North Central on Oct. 12 and vs. Concordia on Sept. 28. … Peterson heads into Saturday's conference match against St. Thomas boasting a team-leading 377 kills, while Lind (257), Nordick (222), Molly Grover (Zumbrota, Minn. / 128), Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis. / 126), Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill. / 118) and Kaylee Bunne (LeRoy, Minn. / 106) have also eclipsed the 100-kill plateau. … Assimos pushed her single-season career-high to 1,105 assists with 38 helpers against Gustavus last Saturday. … Assimos, who has now recorded 1,000 or more assists twice in her four-year collegiate career, also moved past Brittany Cherwinka and into the No. 2 spot all-time with 3,171 assists. … Assimos' 51 assists against UW-Oshkosh on Oct. 11 were not only a season high — one more than the 50-assist effort against Central (Iowa) on Oct. 4 — but just two assists shy of her career-best 53-assist showing against UW-La Crosse on Sept. 2, 2011. … Assimos has now recorded 40 or more assists 11 times this season and 31 times in her collegiate career. … After recording 502 digs as a freshman a year ago, Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) has shattered that mark this year, heading into Saturday's match against St. Thomas with a team-leading 517 digs — giving the sophomore libero 1,019 career digs in her two-year collegiate career. … Krogstad's 517 digs this season rank No. 4 all-time, 56 digs shy of Theresa Perrini's 563 digs during the 2006 season. … Krogstad is one of four Cardinals with 200 or more digs — Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill. / 268), Assimos (262) and Jordan Wolfe (Wabasha, Minn. / 261) are the others. … Wolfe equaled her career best with a team-best 16 digs against Hamline on Oct. 9. … SMU has recoded 149 aces this season — led by Thomas with 37. … SMU's 29-27 Set 1 win against Carleton on Oct. 2 was the longest set of the season for the Cardinals. … The Cardinals have won the first set in 20 of their 23 wins and 22 times in 30 matches this season. … Thirteen of the Cardinals' 23 wins have come in 3-0 sweeps. On the flip side, SMU has been swept just twice this season. … The Cardinals' 3-1 loss to Macalester on Sept. 24 snapped their school record-tying 11-match winning streak. … SMU has lost back-to-back matches just once all season. … SMU's 3-2 loss to Wheaton (Ill.) at the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament on Oct. 12 snapped the Cardinals' 13-match regular-season tournament winning streak. … SMU finished with a 16-3 record in its five regular-season tournaments this season.

Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
With a victory on Saturday against Saint Mary's, the Tommies would tie Augsburg for the conference title — the program's seventh consecutive outright or shared MIAC championship — and claim the top seed for next week's MIAC playoffs. … If St. Thomas loses to Saint Mary's, the Tommies share second place, but still wins the tie-breaker to take the playoffs' No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. … With its 3-0 win over Northwestern on Wednesday, UST extended its road victory streak to 18 dating back to Sept. 2012. … As a team, the Tommies rank in the top seven nationally
in attack % (.268), kills-per-set, blocks-per-set, assists-per-set and win %. … Kelly Foley and Sara Atkinson are each hitting a team-best .383 this season and rank 11th and 12th nationally. … In coach Thanh Pham's 11 years, UST is averaging nearly 29 wins a season and has a 108-12 mark (.900) in MIAC regular-season games. … The Tommies, who won the 2012 NCAA Division III national crown, are 65-3 over the last two seasons. The three defeats were all in five sets — including two against Emory (Ga.). UST won its last 35 matches of last season and had an 18-match win streak earlier this season. … UST has won its last 29 Saturday matches. … UST is a combined 58-0 in three- and four-set matches over the last two seasons. … UST's 3-2 loss to Concordia on Oct. 9 halted a 33-match home-court winning streak — the longest among all 955 teams in NCAA volleyball from all divisions. … The Tommies are No. 4 in this week's AVCA national poll and have been ranked in the national top 25 for 40 consecutive polls. … UST junior Jill Greenfield needs eight kills to reach 1,000 on her career. Junior teammate Kelly Foley surpassed the 1,000-kill milestone last month. … The Tommies have five seniors — All-America hitter Paige Brimeyer; MB Mackenzie Piechowski; OH Nicole Potts; libero McKenna Reagan; and setter Katie Maher. Potts, Reagan and Maher all had older sisters that played for St. Thomas volleyball. … The Tommies went 14-0 last season against conference opponents and are 9-1 so far in 2013. They have a 3-1 road win at Augsburg; a 3-0 road win at St. Ben's; and a 3-2 home loss to Concordia.