Box Score  | GameDay Preview

MOORHEAD, Minn. — The last time the Cardinals made an appearance in the MIAC post-season playoffs, Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) and Kaylee Bunne (LeRoy, Minn.) were freshmen — and neither saw any court time in the Cardinals' 3-1 loss to Saint Benedict.

Concordia, on the other hand, entered Tuesday's showdown having qualified for the conference tournament every year during that same span. In fact, the Cobbers have been a member of every conference playoff field since its inception 13 years ago.

Fortunately for SMU coach Mike Lester, the Cardinals may have been the playoff neophytes — but they certainly didn't play like one.

The Cardinals punched their ticket to the MIAC semifinals in convincing fashion, cruising to a dominating 3-0 win over the fourth-seeded Cobbers at Memorial Auditorium.

"That's the best we've played all year — and we certainly picked the right time for it," said Lester, whose team improved to 24-8 — the most wins since the Cardinals won 27 matches en route to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2000. "It all starts with our defense, and the plays that were made by any number of our defensive players — Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.), Brooke Schilling (Altura, Minn.), Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.), Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) — early in the match really set the tone.

"And, my gosh, you have to give a ton of credit to Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.), she had an amazing match."

Neither team could grab the upper hand in the opening set — a set that included seven ties, the last at 15-15. From there, however, it was all SMU, as the Cardinals used a 9-3 run to build their biggest lead, 24-18, en route to the 25-19 win.

It was more of the same in the second set, as SMU scored the first four points of the set, only to have Concordia rally to knot the match at 7-7. Concordia took its first lead of the set, 14-13, and appeared to be in position to even the match at a set apiece holding a 24-21 advantage. The Cardinals, however, had other ideas — rattling off three straight points and outlasting the Cobbers 31-29 to grab a 2-0 lead.

And, more importantly, the momentum.

The third set opened as a mirror image of the second set, as the Cardinals opened on a 4-0 run and held a 6-3 advantage. The Cobbers would again rally to tie the match at 9-9, but from there, it was all Cardinals. SMU rattled off seven straight points to grab a 16-7 advantage and never looked back in cruising to a 25-19 victory — and their first MIAC semifinal appearance since 2008.

"This team has been focused on this match since 10 seconds after the St. Thomas match to end the regular season," said Lester. "There was nothing we had to do or say all week long to get our team motivated for to play.

"It was so obvious right from the get-go that we were ready to go tonight."

Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting a match-high 15 kills, while Kenzie Lind (Rushford, Minn.) chipped in 10. Assimos accounted for 34 of the team's 46 assists, while also adding seven kills, a .636 attack percentage and eight digs. Krogstad had a team-best 17 digs, with Schilling chipping in 13 and Thomas and Molly Grover (Zumbrota, Minn.) adding 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

Kynndyl Ross finished with 10 kills for the Cobbers, who closed out their season at 19-11, while Jena Klaphake and Mandy Mercil finished with 17 assists each.

The Cardinals are back on the road on Thursday, heading to St. Paul, Minn., and a 7 p.m. date with top-seeded and defending national champion St. Thomas.