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WINONA, Minn. — There were two ways to approach the end result of the Saint Mary's University volleyball team's regular-season finale against defending national champion St. Thomas Saturday afternoon at the SMU Gym.

The glass was either half full, or half empty.

On the half-empty side was the Cardinals' 3-0 loss to the Tommies in the final home match for SMU seniors Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) and Kaylee Bunne (LeRoy, Minn.).

On the half-full side was the fact that, despite their loss to the nation's fourth-ranked team, the Cardinals' season was far from over — SMU heads to Moorhead, Minn., on Tuesday to square off against Concordia in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs.

Always the optimist, SMU coach Mike Lester's glass is most definitely half full.

"There's no doubt we would have loved to come away with a win today — give St. Thomas credit, they played a great match," Lester said. "But, as disappointed as everyone is with the loss, we can't get too down, we played well for most of the match — and we've still got a lot of volleyball to be played.

"The goal now is to put this match behind us and turn all of our focus and energy to being at the top of our game on Tuesday against Concordia."

The Tommies gave the Cardinals a  first-hand look at why they are the defending national champions and currently ranked No. 4 in the latest AVCA Poll, as UST outlasted SMU in the first two sets 25-20 and 25-22, before putting the match away — and locking up a share of the MIAC regular-season title — with a 25-17 Set 3 win.

Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) led the way for SMU, collecting 10 kills and hitting .421, while Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) — the reigning MIAC Hitter of the Week — added eight kills. Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.), who, along with Kaylee Bunne (LeRoy, Minn.), was playing her final collegiate home match, finished with 21 assists and six digs. Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) and Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.) also tallied six digs in the losing effort.

Kelly Foley and Jill Greenfield led the way for St. Thomas with 13 and 10 kills, respectively, with Maddie Reese and Katie Maher chipping in 25 and 14 assists, respectively.

The Cardinals (6-5 MIAC, 23-8 overall) will now hit the road on Tuesday, traveling to Moorhead, Minn., for their 7 p.m. MIAC playoff match against Concordia.