WINONA, Minn. — If the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team was feeling any ill effects from last weekend's showing at the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament, they certainly did show it Wednesday night.
 
In fact, it's a safe bet that the 0-4 performance made the Cardinals a bit angry.
 
Which was great news for Saint Mary's coach Mike Lester—but bad news for visiting Augsburg.
 
The Cardinals took out their frustrations—while maintaining their spot near the top of the conference standings—with an impressive 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Auggies at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
"That was a good performance all the way around," said Saint Mary's coach Mike Lester. "I thought we played very well tonight.
 
"That was fun."
 
Easy for Lester to say—after the match.
 
During the match, "fun" may not have been the operative word.
 
The first two sets took on the appearance of a knock-down, drag-out fight-to-the-finish, as neither team could mount any type of sustainable offense.
 
In the opening set, Saint Mary's held leads as big as six (three times), while the Auggies boasted four-point leads on a pair of occasions—including 24-20—and went on to handing the Cardinals a 25-23 Set 1 setback.
 
It was more of the same in the second set—only this time it was the Cardinals coming away with the win. Saint Mary's trailed just twice, 8-7 and 15-14, en route to a 25-22 victory.
 
That Set 2 win gave the Cardinals the momentum they needed, as Saint Mary's blew out the Auggies in the third set, 25-15.
 
It was back to nail-biting time in the fourth set, however, with neither team leading by more than three points. Saint Mary's held the advantage early, but it was the Auggies boasting a three-point advantage late, 22-19. From there, the Cardinals would rattle off three points to tie it 22-22, then outscored the Auggies 5-3 down the stretch to ice the win with a 27-25 victory.
 
Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Molly Urban (Roseville, Minn.) led the way for Saint Mary's, collecting 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) added nine, and Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn.) and Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn.) each chipped in seven. Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) finished with a team-best 24 assists, two more than Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.), with Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.) leading a trio of Cardinals in doubles figures in digs with 19. Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) and Sullivan finished with 16 and 11 digs, respectively.
 
Ashley Peper tallied a match-high 19 kills, and Taylor Linn and Jordan Weedling added 12 and 10 kills, respectively, in the losing effort for Augsburg (4-4 MIAC, 15-6 overall).
 
The Cardinals, who improved to 6-1 in conference play, while moving their overall record to 17-7, are now off until Friday, Oct. 23, when they begin a stretch of four straight conference road matches—heading to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 7 p.m. match against Bethel.