ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team hits the road on Friday, heading to Bethel for a 7 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against the Royals.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-1 MIAC | 17-7 Overall) at Bethel Royals (5-2 MIAC | 17-8 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | Video Preview
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals have been off since Oct. 14, when they rallied from a set down to beat Augsburg 3-1 at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• Bethel: The Royals are coming off a 2-2 showing at the UW-La Crosse Tournament last weekend in La Crosse, Wis. Bethel fell to UW-La Crosse (3-1) and Augustana (3-0) last Friday, before beating Dickinson State (3-1) and Central-Iowa (3-0) on Saturday  | Day 1 Recap * Day 2 Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel—A Year Ago:
• September 24, 2014 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals made quick work of visiting Bethel, needing just over an hour to post a 3-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• November 4, 2014 * Minneapolis, Minn.: After dropping the first set 25-22, the Cardinals ripped off three straight wins—25-17, 25-21, 26-24—to post a 3-1 win in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament in Winona, Minn., and earn a spot opposite top-seeded Augsburg in the conference tournament semifinal | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are right back on the court—and right back on the road—on Saturday, heading to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference match against Macalester.
• Bethel: The Royals head across town on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3 p.m. MIAC showdown with nationally ranked St. Thomas.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• Friday's match against Bethel is the first of four straight road contests to end the regular season for the Cardinals. … With their 3-1 victory over Augsburg on Oct. 14, the Cardinals improved to 7-2 on their home court this season. … The Cardinals snapped a season-high four-match losing streak with their victory over Augsburg on Oct. 14. … The four-match slide was their longest since dropping four in a row early in the 2014 season. … The Cardinals' 3-2 loss to Saint Benedict on Oct. 2 snapped their season-high seven-match winning streak. … Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Molly Urban (Roseville, Minn.) finished with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, to pace the Cardinals vs. Augsburg. … Fadness, who leads the team with 275 kills, has recorded 10 or more kills in 18 of the team's 24 matches. … Fadness, who has notched a season- and career-high 18 kills three times this season, is one of six Cardinals who have eclipsed the 100-kill plateau this season—Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn. / 202), Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn. / 179), Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn. / 172), Urban (155), and Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn. / 111) are the others. … Lind banged out a career-high 15 kills to pace the Cardinals against Saint Benedict on Oct. 2. … Urban's 14-kill effort vs. the Saint Benedict on Oct. 2 was a career high. … Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) and Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) recorded 24 and 22 assists, respectively, against Augsburg on Oct. 14. It was the 14th time this season Hanson has eclipsed the 20-assist mark in a match, while MacVey has accomplished that feat 11 times. … Hanson notched her first double-double of the season with 29 assists and 10 digs against St. Olaf on Oct. 7. …  MacVey notched season-highs of 29 assists and 17 digs vs. Saint Benedict on Oct. 2 for her team-leading fifth double-double of the season—one more than Sullivan. … Hanson, who posted a season-high 31 assists vs. Saint Benedict on Oct. 2, heads into Friday's showdown with Bethel owning a team-best 450 assists, with MacVey close behind at 386. … Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.) posted a season-high 19 digs against Augsburg on Oct. 14. Thomas' 19 digs were one shy of her career-best 20-dig effort against UW-La Crosse on Sept. 10, 2014. … Sullivan has recorded 10 or more digs in 17 of the team's 24 matches. … Maddie Hess (Lewiston, Minn.) dished out a career-best 19 assists vs. Coe on Oct. 9. … Hess posted 17 assists and a career-best 12 digs en route to her first collegiate double-double against St. Thomas on Sept. 26. … Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) posted her first double-double of the season vs. Hamline on Sept. 23, notching 16 digs and 11 assists. … Krogstad, who equaled her career-high with 36 digs against St. Norbert on Sept. 18, has collected 422 digs through 24 matches and is second all-time with 2,025 career digs. Krogstad is just the second player ever to reach the 2,000-dig plateau and just 167 digs shy of school record-holder Theresa Perrini. … Saint Mary's win over Augsburg on Oct. 14 was its eighth four-set win of the season—the Cardinals are 7-3 in three-set matches, 8-3 in four-setters and 2-1 in matches that have gone the maximum five sets. … With their 3-1 win over St. Thomas on Sept. 26, Saint Mary's snapped a 14-match losing streak against the Tommies, dating back to a 3-1 triumph on Oct. 2, 2002—also on the Tommies' home court. … The Cardinals finished a combined 10-6 in their four tournament matches this season. … The Cardinals put together their best 19-match start to the season in program history this season, going 16-3. … With their 3-1 win over UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 1, the Cardinals are now 5-0 in their last five season openers.
 
Scouting The Bethel Royals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Royals close out their regular season-schedule playing three of their final four matches on their home court—the lone exception, Saturday's showdown at St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. … Bethel is a near-perfect 6-1 at Robertson Center this season. The Royals are 7-5 on the road and 4-2 in neutral-site matches. … Last Friday's 3-1 loss to UW-La Crosse snapped Bethel's four-match winning streak. … BU heads into Friday's match against Saint Mary's having won eight of its last 11. The Royals opened the season on an eight-match winning streak. … Carlee Hoppe enters Friday's match against Saint Mary's with a team-leading 285 kills. … Hoppe is one of five Royals with at least 100 kills this season—Tegan LaBerge (232), Tina Hoppe (186), Kristin Stern (183), and Nicole Deberry (116) are the others. … Stern—who was named to the UW-La Crosse All-Tournament team after posting 37 kills in four tournament matches—boasts a team-best .351 attack percentage. … Katie Lubben is the team's assist leader with 628, while Mikayla Morrow has added 295 helpers. … Bethel has amassed 120 service aces this season, led by Lubben (21), Carlee Hoppe (21), and Tina Hoppe (20). … Kali Johnson is the team's dig leader with 392. Carlee Hoppe is second with 260 and Lubben is close behind at 197. … Eleven of Bethel's 17 wins have been 3-0 sweeps. On the flip side, four of the Royals' seven losses have been decided in three sets. … Bethel has played just two, five-set matches this season—beating UM-Morris 3-2 in its season opener, while falling to Saint Benedict 3-2 on Sept. 25.