WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season play on Tuesday, as the fourth-seeded Cardinals host fifth-seeded Concordia in a 7 p.m. match at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Matchup:
• #4 Saint Mary's Cardinals (8-3 MIAC | 19-10 Overall) vs. #5 Concordia Cobbers (7-4 MIAC | 15-10 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | Video Preview | Tournament Homepage | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals closed out the regular-season portion of their schedule last Saturday, falling to MIAC regular-season champion Gustavus 3-0 in St. Peter, Minn. | Recap
• Concordia: The Cobbers dropped their final regular-season match last Saturday, losing a 3-0 conference decision to Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Concordia—Earlier This Year:
• October 3, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: Less than 24 hours after dropping a heartbreaking 3-2 MIAC decision to Saint Benedict, the Cardinals squared off against yet another MIAC league-leader in Concordia. The Cobbers entered their showdown with the Cardinals riding a five-match winning streak—not to mention boasting an unblemished 4-0 conference record. Saint Mary's, however, was unfazed by the Cobbers' impressive resume—much less the heartbreaking loss to the Blazers the night before—using a 14-0 run to start the second set and an 8-0 burst to end the third to put away Concordia, 3-0 on Senior Day at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Concordia—Their Last Post-Season Meeting:
• November 5, 2013 * Moorhead, Minn.: Concordia entered its showdown with Saint Mary's having qualified for the conference tournament every year since the tournament went to a single-elimination format 13 years ago. Fortunately for SMU coach Mike Lester, the Cardinals may have been the playoff neophytes — but they certainly didn't play like one. The Cardinals punched their ticket to the MIAC semifinals in convincing fashion, cruising to a dominating 3-0 win over the fourth-seeded Cobbers at Memorial Auditorium | Recap
 
How They Got Here:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals finished tied for third with Saint Benedict in the final conference standings, but with their 3-2 victory in the team's regular-season meeting, the Blazers earned the No. 3 seed and Saint Mary's took the No. 4 seed.
• Concordia: By virtue of their 7-4 MIAC record, the Cobbers finished fifth in the final conference standings and earned the No. 5 seed—and a trip to Saint Mary's for their playoff opener.
 
Up Next:
• Tonight's winner advances to the MIAC Playoff semifinals on Thursday in St. Peter, Minn., where they will  at top-seeded Gustavus.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Cardinals are making their third straight appearance in the MIAC Playoffs. Saint Mary's reached the conference playoff semifinal in each of its last two post-season appearances. … With a win over Concordia Tuesday, the Cardinals would reach the 20-win plateau for the third consecutive season and the eighth time under coach Mike Lester. … Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.), who leads the team with a career-best 323 kills, has recorded 10 or more kills in 21 of the team's 28 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. / 231), Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn. / 207), Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn. / 192), Molly Urban (Roseville, Minn. / 176), and Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn. / 124) 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. Saint Benedict was also a career high. … Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) and Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) have shared the setting duties this season, with Hanson owning a team-best 493 assists, while MacVey is close behind with 457. … Hanson has recorded 20 or more assists in a match 14 times this season, one more than MacVey. … Hanson notched her first double-double of the season with 29 assists and 10 digs against St. Olaf on Oct. 7. …  Maddie Hess (Lewiston, Minn.) posted 17 assists and a career-best 12 digs en route to her first collegiate double-double against St. Thomas on Sept. 26. … 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 tallied a season-high 31 assists vs. Saint Benedict on Oct. 2. … 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 collected 10 or more digs in 19 of the team's 28 matches—including a season-high 22 digs vs. Wisconsin Lutheran on Sept. 5 and St. Olaf on Oct. 7. … Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) notched her first double-double of the season vs. Hamline on Sept. 23, recording 16 digs and 11 assists. … Krogstad, who equaled her career-high with 36 digs against St. Norbert on Sept. 18, has posted 487 digs through 28 matches and is second all-time with 2,069 career digs. Krogstad is just the second player ever to reach the 2,000-dig plateau and just 102 digs shy of school record-holder Theresa Perrini. … Krogstad has recorded 10 or more digs in 23 of the Cardinals' 28 matches—including 19 of the last 20. … The Cardinals are 8-5 in three-set matches, 8-3 in four-setters and 3-1 in matches extended to a fifth set. … 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. … 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. … With their 3-1 victory over Augsburg on Oct. 14, the Cardinals finished the regular season 7-2 on their home court this season. … 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 Concordia Cobbers:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Cobbers head into post-season play having won three of their last five matches—including back-to-back 3-0 wins over Carleton and St. Thomas in the final week of the regular-season. … Concordia is making its 14th trip to the MIAC Playoffs in the last 15 seasons. The Cobbers were one of just three teams to qualify for the MIAC playoffs in each of its first 13 years as a single-elimination tournament. That streak ended last year when Concordia finished in a tie for fourth and lost the tiebreakers. … Olivia Wangensteen owns a team-high 255 kills and is one of five Cobbers who have recorded 100 or more kills this season—Anna Skow-Anderson 9173), Heather Beaner 9156), Kathleen Lippert (134), and Vanessa Johnson (101) are the others. … Wangensteen has put together the Cobbers' top-four single-match kill performances—including a season-high 20 kills against UW-Stout on Sept. 19. The senior has recorded 10 or more kills in 16 of the team's 25 matches. … Mandy Mercil and Jenna Klaphake have shared the setting duties for the Cobbers, combining for 905 of the team's 1,016 assists. Mercil leads the team with 461 helpers, 17 more than Klaphake. … Klaphake collected a season-high 43 assists in the Cobbers' five-set win over St. Catherine on Oct. 15, while Mercil posted a season-best 33 assists vs. UW-Stout on Sept. 19. … Concordia has served up 141 aces through 25 matches, led by Mercil with 29, and Klaphake and Wangensteen with 26 apiece. … Concordia boasts three players—Korbyn Ross (437), Wangensteen (303), and Kylie Schuelke (236)—with 200 or more digs. … Concordia is 9-4 in three-set matches, while going 2-4 in four-setters and 3-2 in matches extended to five sets. … CC closed out the regular-season with a 6-2 mark on its home court. The Cobbers are 3-4 on the road and 5-4 in neutral-court contests.