ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff race just got a little more crowded.
 
The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team headed into Friday's conference showdown against Bethel sitting in second place in the conference standings at 6-1—holding a one-half game lead over Saint Benedict, while leading Bethel by a full game.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that slim lead vanished Friday evening.
 
Bethel used a pair of convincing performances in the second and third sets in handing the Cardinals a 3-0 conference setback—creating  a three-way bottleneck for second place, and that all-important first-round bye in the MIAC Playoffs.
 
With the loss, Saint Mary's dropped to 6-2 in conference play, leaving the Cardinals deadlocked with Saint Benedict and Bethel for second place—two games back of Gustavus (8-0), which beat Concordia 3-2 Friday evening.
 
The Cardinals and Royals settled in for a knock-down, drag-out battle in the opening set, with Bethel coming out on top—scoring five of the set's final six points for a 25-21 victory.
 
From there, however, the showdown turned one-sided, as Bethel got out to early leads and the Cardinals never recovered in fall 25-15 in Set 2 and 25-18 in the third and final set.
 
Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting a team-best 12 kills, while hitting .269. Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) dished out 10 assists and Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) recorded 17 digs.
 
Carlee Hoppe paced a balanced Bethel attack with 10 kills—one more than Tegan LaBerge—while also leading the team with 12 digs. Katie Lubben posted 22 assists and Kali Johnson added 10 digs.
 
The Cardinals 6-2 MIAC, 17-8 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference match against Macalester.