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WINONA, Minn. — For the first two sets of their nonconference match against UW-La Crosse Wednesday, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team made it look easy — as the Cardinals steamrolled the Eagles 25-17, 25-17.

From there, however, "easy" was not in the Cardinals' vocabulary.

But "win" was, as SMU rebounded from a 25-21 Set 3 setback and outlasted UW-L 27-25 in the fourth set to seal the 3-1 victory.

"That was a battle," said SMU coach Mike Lester. "I wouldn't say that the first two sets were easy, it's just that we played really, really well — we were in system and just clicking on all cylinders.

"In the third and fourth sets, it wasn't that our game dropped off, (La Crosse) just stepped their game up — and we didn't have an answer for their outsides," Lester added. "But give our ladies credit — they kept battling from start to finish."

Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) led the Cardinals' 49-kill attack, finishing with 14, while Kenzie Lind (Rushford, Minn.) chipped in 11 and Mary Nordick (Plymouth, Minn.) and Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) each added 10. Lexi Assimos (Northbrook, Ill.) — coming off her second all-tournament performance last weekend at the North Park Viking Clash, in which she was named tournament MVP — dished out 39 assists, while Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) recorded a team-best 17 digs.

Lauren Probst tallied a match-high 18 kills and Crystal Ziegler finished with 12 in the losing effort for UW-La Crosse (4-5 overall), while Cassie Raduka dished out 43 assists and Courtney Geisler tallied 11 digs.

The Cardinals (7-2 overall) — who have now won six straight — are now off until next Wednesday, when they open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7 p.m. match against Bethel in Arden Hills, Minn.