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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team kicked off its 2013 season with a sweep of Lakeland Friday afternoon during the opening day of the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic.

But there was nothing easy about the 3-0 nonconference win.

The Cardinals outlasted the Muskies 25-20 in the first set, then rallied from 6-1 and 11-3 deficits to win Set 2 25-22, while completing the season-opening win with a 25-23 victory in the third set.

"It was a good starting point for us," said SMU coach Mike Lester. "We had a lot of players playing their first match in an SMU uniform and I thought they came through pretty well.

"Lakeland's a tough team to play — they don't swing all that hard, but they don't miss the court all that often, either. They don't make a lot of errors offensively," Lester added. "It certainly wasn't our best performance, but for a first match, I was pretty happy."

Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) and Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) — playing in their first collegiate matches — showed no signs of early season jitters, pacing the SMU offense with 12 and eight kills, respectively. Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.), who entered her senior season with 2,066 career assists, picked up 28 more against the Muskies, while Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) collected 19 digs, with Assimos adding 10.

Amanda Dillman and Katie Freitag each had eight kills and Brittany Reindl dished out 25 assists in the losing effort for Lakeland.

The Cardinals are back in action at 6 p.m. Friday, squaring off against Dominican.