WINONA, Minn. — Coming off an impressive 3-0 dismantling of Bethel on Wednesday, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota head coach Mike Lester had just once concern heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Macalester.
 
An ill-timed letdown.
 
The Cardinals' answer? An emphatic "not a chance."
 
After a bit of a slow start, the Cardinals found their groove and Macalester never had a chance, as Saint Mary's rolled to its second straight convincing 3-0 victory at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
"It might not have been as near-perfect as (Wednesday's match against) Bethel, but it was pretty close," said Lester, whose team has now won six straight. "We let Macalester hang around a bit early, but then we got into a bit of a rhythm and really turned things around."
 
Deadlocked at 14-14 in the opening set, the Cardinals turned up the heat, scoring four straight points to take an 18-14 advantage. Macalester would get as close as three, 22-19, but a 3-1 run to end the set gave Saint Mary's the 25-20, Set 1 victory.
 
The Scots scored the first point of the second set, but that would be their only lead, as the Cardinals built a convincing 15-6 cushion and cruised to the 25-16 victory for a 2-0 advantage.
 
Macalester raced out to an early 6-3 advantage in the third set, but all that proved to do was wake a sleeping giant, as the Cardinals scored 22 of the next 28 points to complete the sweep with a 25-12 victory.
 
Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) delivered a match-high 12 kills , while Kenzie Lind (Rushford, Minn.) and Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) each chipped in 10. Lind boasted a .444 attack percentage, with Fadness and Peterson each finishing at .333. Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) and Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) dished out 27 and 13 assists, respectively, while Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) boasted a team-high 10 digs, two more than Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.) and three more than Lind.
 
Lynn Zemaitis collected a team-high six kills for the Scots (0-3 MIAC, 7-10 overall), while Samantha Bongiorno tallied 10 assists and Cora Trout had 11 digs.
 
The Cardinals (2-1 MIAC, 11-5 overall) hit the road for a pair of MIAC matches next weekend, traveling to St. Joseph, Minn., for a 7 p.m. contest against nationally ranked Saint Benedict on Friday, before heading to Moorhead, Minn. on Saturday to take on Concordia in a 1:30 p.m. matchup.