ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team hits the road on Thursday, as the fourth-seeded Cardinals head to Gustavus for a 7 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff semifinal showdown with the regular-season champion and top-seeded Gusties.
 
The Matchup:
• #4 Saint Mary's Cardinals (8-3 MIAC | 20-9 Overall) at #1 Gustavus Gusties (11-0 MIAC | 25-2 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | Video Preview | MIAC Playoff Homepage
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals kicked off post-season play in impressive fashion Tuesday, outlasting Concordia 3-0 in an MIAC Playoff quarterfinal match at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• Gustavus: The Gusties have been off since last Saturday, when the concluded their perfect 11-0 run through the conference schedule with a 3-0 win over Saint Mary's in St. Peter, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Gustavus—Earlier This Year:
• October 31, 2015 * St. Peter, Minn.: Saint Mary's entered its regular-season finale against Gustavus looking to do something no conference team had been able to do this season—beat the Gusties. In fact, not only did Gustavus boast an unblemished 10-0 conference slate, but, after dropping the first two matches of the season, the Gusties had rattled off 24 consecutive wins. Make that 25. Gustavus raced out to a 25-17 win in the opening set and never looked back, completing the sweep with a 25-21 win in the second set and a 25-23 victory in the third | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Gustavus—Their Last Post-Season Meeting:
• November 6, 2008 * St. Peter, Minn.: When Saint Mary's dropped the opening set of its MIAC Tournament semifinal match against second-seeded Gustavus, Cardinal coach Mike Lester wasn't too worried. After all, the Cardinals managed just 13 points in the first set of their opening-round match against third-seeded Saint Benedict — then preceded to knocked off the nation's 19th-ranked team in five sets (13-25, 25-23, 26-24, 19-15, 15-13). When the Cardinals dropped the second set against the 18th-ranked Gusties, however, Lester knew his team might be in trouble. And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, they were, as Gustavus—for the second time in less than a week—rolled to a 3-0 (27-25, 25-16, 25-17) win over Saint Mary's | 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. Saint Mary's then rode a balanced offensive attack to a 3-0 victory over Concordia in the MIAC Playoff quarterfinals on Tuesday.
• Gustavus: The Gusties rolled through the MIAC regular-season schedule, racking up a perfect 11-0 record en route to the conference's regular-season title, the playoff's No. 1 seed, and a first-round bye.
 
Up Next:
• Tonight's winner advances to the MIAC Playoff championship match on Saturday—against either second-seeded Bethel or third-seeded Saint Benedict—at the site of the top remaining seed.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Cardinals are making their third straight appearance in the MIAC Playoffs. … With their win over Concordia, Saint Mary's has now reached the conference playoff semifinal in each of its last three post-season appearances. … Tuesday's victory over the Cobbers marked the Cardinals' 20th win of the season—it's the third consecutive time, and the eighth time under coach Mike Lester, that Saint Mary's has won 20 or more matches in a season. … The Cardinals landed three players—Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.), Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.), and Molly Urban (Roseville, Minn.)—on the All-MIAC First-Team, which was announced Wednesday. It was the second straight All-MIAC honor, while Fadness and Urban were selected for the first time. … Fadness has now garnered four First-Team All-MIAC honors in her collegiate career, having also been named to the MIAC's First-Team three times as a member of the Cardinal women's hockey team. … Fadness, who leads the team with a career-best 328 kills, has recorded 10 or more kills in 21 of the team's 29 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. / 239), Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn. / 216), Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn. / 200), Urban (183), and Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn. / 128) are the others. … Lind banged out a career-high 15 kills to pace the Cardinals against Saint Benedict on Oct. 2, while Urban's 14-kill effort vs. the Blazers 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 508 assists, while MacVey is close behind with 472. … Hanson has recorded 20 or more assists in a match 14 times this season, one more than MacVey. … MacVey recorded 15 assists and 13 digs against Concordia on Tuesday for her team-leading sixth double-double of the season—two more than Sullivan. … 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. … Hanson tallied a season-high 31 assists vs. Saint Benedict on Oct. 2. … With her 13 digs against Concordia Tuesday, Sullivan has collected 10 or more digs in 20 of the team's 29 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 503 digs through 29 matches—the fourth consecutive season of 500 or more digs—and is second all-time with 2,106 career digs. Krogstad is just the second player ever to reach the 2,000-dig plateau and just 86 digs shy of school record-holder Theresa Perrini. … Krogstad has recorded 10 or more digs in 24 of the Cardinals' 29 matches—including 20 of the last 21. … With their win over Concordia, the Cardinals are now 9-5 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  playoff victory over Concordia, the Cardinals finished with an 8-2 on their home court 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 Gustavus Gusties:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• With their perfect run through the conference's regular-season schedule, the Gusties claimed their first regular-season MIAC volleyball title since 1986, and the program's fifth championship overall. … After opening the season with back-to-back 3-1 losses to Cornell and UW-Platteville, the Gusties have rattled off a program-record 25 consecutive wins. … The Gusties have posted 13, 3-0 sweeps during their current 25-match winning streak—and have only been pushed to a fifth set four times. … The Gusties have won the first set in 26 of their 27 matches—the lone exception, their 3-1 setback to UW-Platteville on Sept. 4. … Gustavus heads into Thursday's MIAC Playoff showdown with Saint Mary's a perfect 12-0 on their home court. The Gusties have not lost on their home court since falling to Saint Benedict 3-1 on Oct. 25, 2014. … Alyssa Taylor heads a group of six Gusties who have notched 100 or more kills this season. Taylor owns a team-best 276 kills, followed by Lauren Hanson (239), Taylor Trautman (226), Becca Woodstra (184), Kelle Nett (114), and Nora Holtan (106). … Taylor is also the team-leader in attack percentage (.346) and blocks (103). … Along with her 106 kills, Holtan has dished out 840 of the team's 1,151 assists. … Gustavus has served up 169 aces this season, led by Noltan (28), Trautman (25), Abby Leitch (24), and Brittnay Luethmers (23). …  Luethmers and Leitch are the team's dig leaders with 467 and 258, respectively. … Coming off an 11-15 season a year ago, the Gusties 25-2 showing is the greatest turnaround in the 47-year history of Gustavus volleyball. … Gustavus enters post-season play ranked No. 2 in the latest North Region poll.