CHICAGO, Ill. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team hits the road this weekend, taking part in the North Park Viking Clash.

The Cardinals' North Park Viking Clash Schedule:
Friday, Sept. 6:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-2 Overall) vs. Marian Sabres (4-1 Overall), 2 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals vs. Aurora Spartans (1-3 Overall), 4 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 7:
Saint Mary's Cardinals vs. Dennison Big Red (3-2 Overall), Noon
Saint Mary's Cardinals vs. Manchester Spartans (1-2 Overall), 2 p.m.

GameDay Live On The Web:
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The Cardinals' Last Action:
SMU is coming off a 2-2 showing at the season-opening Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic in Winona, Minn. The Cardinals opened tournament play with a convincing 3-0 win over Lakeland, before dropping back-to-back matches — falling 3-1 to 2012 NCAA national tournament qualifier Dominican and 3-0 to Luther. Saint Mary's then closed out the tournament with a 3-1 victory over St. Scholastica.

SMU vs. North Park Viking Clash Opponents — Their Last Meeting:
vs. Marian — September 24, 2011: After going the maximum five sets in their first two matches of the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational, SMU decided to take a little different approach to their final two matches: Short, sweet and to the point, as SMU rolled to a 3-1 win over Marian, then swept past UW-Marathon County 3-0 to finish the weekend at 3-1.
vs. Aurora — October 14, 2011: SMU got its final tournament of the regular season off to a roaring start Friday evening, as the Cardinals outlasted Aurora 3-2 in the opening match of the North Central (Ill.) Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament.
vs. Dennison and Manchester:
Saturday's matches against the Spartans and Big Red will be the first in program history for the Cardinals.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
With their 3-0 win over Lakeland, the Cardinals won their season-opener for the third straight season. … Lexi Assimos (Nortbrook, Ill.) was named to the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic All-Tournament Team, after compiling 17 kills, a .359 attack percentage, 126 assists, 31 digs, two aces and six blocks. … Assimos recorded a pair of 40-assist matches against Dominican and St. Scholastica, giving her 40 or more assists 22 times in her collegiate career. … Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) and Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.), playing in their first four matches in a Cardinal uniform, led the team with 39 and 23 kills at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic. … Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.), the team's dig leader with 502 as a freshman a year ago, posted a team-best 70 digs in four tournament matches last weekend, while Fadness had a team-high nine blocks, one more than Kaylee Bunne (). … SMU won the first set in both of its victories at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic and have now been victorious in Set 1 in 15 of their last 16 wins. … Two of SMU's four tournament matches last weekend were decided by 3-0 decisions, with the other two going four sets. The Cardinals were 1-1 in both.

Scouting The Marian Sabres:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
The Sabres, coming off a 14-15 season a year ago, kicked off their 2013 campaign by cruising to a perfect 4-0 showing at the Beloit (Wis.) Invitational last weekend, before falling to Ripon 3-1 Wednesday evening. … Anna Smit powered her way onto the Beloit All-Tournament team last weekend, turning in 50 kills and 22 digs in Marian's four matches. … Jordan Menges also had a solid start to the season, collecting 93 assists — including 47 in Marian's 3-2 win over the University of Dubuque last Friday — during the Sabres' four tournament matches. … Casey Lamberty heads into the North Park Invitational boasting a team-leading 72 kills (3.79 kps), while also chipping in seven aces, 39 digs and six blocks. … Menges owns a team-best 102 assists, while Morgan Dercks is close behind with 85. … The Sabres boast two players — Katrina Jensen (63) and Ashley Zumbrock (51) — with 50 or more digs, while Lamberty's seven aces are a team high, one more than Jensen.

Scouting The Aurora Spartans:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
After opening their season with a 3-0 victory, the Spartans dropped their final three matches at the Illinois College Tournament — all by 3-0 decisions. … Aurora boasted five players — Kate Wright, Lindsey Wifle, Andrea Kappelman, Sarah Olesen and Emilee Mitchell — with a team-leading 17 kills at last weekend's season-opening Illinois College Tournament. … Lexi O'Boyle collected 77 of the team's 108 assists last weekend, while Kendall Moses led four players with 30 of more digs, finishing with a team-best 30. O'Boyle (34), Kappelman (34), and Wright (32) also eclipsed the 30-dig plateau last weekend.

Scouting The Dennison Big Red:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
Dennison — coming off a 21-10 season a year ago — opened with a 2-2 showing at the Capital-Otterbein Volleyball Opener in Bexley, Ohio last weekend. The Big Red beat Albion (2-1) and Rose-Hulman (3-2), while falling to Defiance (3-1) and Trine (3-1). … Dennison was right back in Bexley, Ohio, on Wednesday, beating Capital University 3-2. … Kenzie Kuhn and Elena Lein each finished with a team-leading 33 kills, while Lauren Gustafson added 30 during the Big Red's four tournament matches last weekend. … Jessica Borsani and Carly Newell shared the setting duties for Dennison in the Big Red's first four matches, with Borsani dishing out 78 assists, while Newell finished with 71. … Emily Marquerite collected a team-best 141 digs in four tournament matches, with Borsani adding 61 and Sarah Blum finishing with 55. … Lein heads into tournament play this weekend with a team-leading 45 kills, three ore than Gustafson, while also hitting a team-high .268. … Borsani added 22 assists vs. Capital Wednesday, pushing her team-leading total to 110, while Newell recorded 15 helpers vs. Capital to push her season assist total to 86. … Marquerite enters the weekend with a team-high 174 digs, nearly 100 more than Borsani's second-place total of 77. … Two of Dennison's three wins this season have gone the maximum five sets, while both the Big Red's losses have been 3-1 decisions.

Scouting The Manchester Spartans:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
The Spartans head into the North Park Clash having sandwiched a 3-1 win over North Park between 3-0 and 3-1 losses to Kalamazoo and North Central (Ill.) during their three matches in Kalamazoo, Mich., last weekend. … Sarah Pruden amassed a team-high 27 kills (2.45 kps) in the Spartans' three matches last weekend. … Morgan Pavelka chipped in 17 kills (1.55 kps), while also delivering 10 of the team's 17 aces and recording a team-best eight blocks. … Mikayla Munn dished out a team-leading 43 assists, with Heather Racine chipping in 29. … Morgan Yoder picked up a team-best 37 digs, while Makenna Hamilton and Munn chipped in 24 and 22 digs, respectively. … Two of Manchester's three matches last weekend were decided in four sets. … Manchester boasts eight returning players from a year ago, when the Spartans finished 11-19.