RIPON, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team hits the road for four matches this weekend, taking part in the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational.
 
The Ripon Red Hawk Invitational Field:
Ripon Red Hawks (2-8 Overall), Saint Mary's Cardinals (8-2 Overall), St. Norbert Green Knights (3-7 Overall), UW-River Falls Falcons (6-5 Overall), St. Catherine Wildcats (5-3 Overall)
 
The Ripon Red Hawk Invitational Schedule:
Friday, September 18, 2015 • Dubuque, Iowa
Court 1: Ripon vs. St. Catherine, 3:00 * UW-River Falls vs. Saint Mary's, 5:00 * Ripon vs. UW-River Falls, 7:00
Court 2: Saint Mary's vs. St. Norbert, 3:00 * St. Norbert vs. St. Catherine, 5:00
Saturday, September 19, 2015 • Dubuque, Iowa
Court 1: St. Catherine vs. Saint Mary's, 10:00 * Ripon vs. St. Norbert, Noon * Ripon vs. Saint Mary's, 2:00
Court 2: St. Norbert vs. UW-River Falls, 10:00 * St. Catherine vs. UW-River Falls, Noon
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Tournament Homepage | Video Preview
 
Saint Mary's Last Action:
• The Cardinals got 10 kills from Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and 15 digs and nine kills from Jenna Sullivan, as Saint Mary's opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 victory over St. Catherine Wednesday at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Saint Mary's at Ripon Red Hawk Invitational—A Year Ago:
• September 19-20, 2014: The Cardinals cruised to a perfect 4-0 record, sandwiching 3-1 wins over Milwaukee School of Engineering and Ripon around 3-0 victories over UW-Superior and UW-River Falls | Day 1 Recap * Day 2 Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Ripon Red Hawk Invitational Opponents—Their Last Meetings:
• vs. St. Norbert—September 21, 2013: Saint Mary's—coming off a pair of back-to-back 3-0 victories to open play at the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational—picked up right where they left off to kick off the second day of the two-day event. Literally. The Cardinals racked up their third consecutive 3-0 victory—dropping St. Norbert in their first match of the day | Recap
• vs. Ripon and UW-River Falls—September 20, 2014: Saint Mary's—3-1 winners over Milwaukee School of Engineering and 3-0 victors vs. UW-Superior during the opening day of the two-tournament Ripon Red Hawk Invitational—completed their perfect run with a 3-0 sweep of UW-River Falls and a 3-1 triumph over host Ripon during Day 2 | Recap
• vs. St. Catherine—September 16, 2015: The Cardinals got 10 kills from Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and 15 digs and nine kills from Jenna Sullivan, as Saint Mary's opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 victory over St. Catherine Wednesday at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Cardinals Up Next:
• The Cardinals return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown with Hamline.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• With their 3-1 showing at last weekend's Loras Invitational, the Cardinals have now gone 6-2 in their two tournaments this season. … The Cardinals have not lost back-to-back matches this season. … Saint Mary's 3-0 loss to seventh-ranked UW-Stevens Point on Sept. 6 snapped the Cardinals' three-match season-opening winning streak, while the Cardinals' 3-1 setback vs. UW-Stout on Sept 12 snapped their second three-match winning streak of the season. … Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn.) were named to the Loras Invitational All-Tournament Team. It was the second all-tournament selection for Fadness, who was also named to the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic All-Tournament Team. … Fadness finished with a team-leading 56 kills and hit .360 in the Cardinals' four Loras Invitational matches, while also added a team-best 10 kills in Wednesday's 3-0 conference-opening victory over St. Catherine. … Fadness has now recorded 108 kills in eight tournament matches and leads the team with 131 kills through 10 matches this season. … Sullivan chipped in 36 kills and 64 digs en route to her all-tournament selection last weekend. She also recorded 15 digs and seven kills vs. St. Catherine on Wednesday. … Sullivan owns a pair of double-doubles this season—posting 10 kills and 12 digs vs. Luther on Sept. 5 and 13 kills and 16 digs vs. UW-Platteville on Sept. 11. … Sullivan has recorded 10 or more digs in nine of the Cardinals' 10 matches, including each of the last eight. … The 18 kills by Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.)  vs. UW-Platteville on Sept. 11 and by Fadness against UW-Stout on Sept. 12, were season highs. … Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) recorded her sixth straight match of 20 or more assists vs. St. Catherine on Wednesday, finishing with 21 helpers. … Hanson owns a season-high 28-assist effort vs. Loras on Sept. 11. … Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) recorded a season-best 26 digs vs. UW-Stout on Sept. 12. … Krogstad, who has collected 127 digs through 10 matches, is second all-time with 1,730 career digs. … Saint Mary's 3-2 win over Loras was its first five-set match of the season. … The Cardinals are 3-1 in three-set matches and 4-1 in matches extended to four sets. … Saint Mary's has won the opening set in six of its eight victories this season—the exceptions, a 3-1 win over UW-La Crosse on Sept. 5 and a 3-1 victory over Wheaton (Ill.) on Sept. 12. … 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 St. Catherine Wildcats:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• St. Catherine is in the midst of a season-opening 12-match road trip.  The Wildcats play their first home match on Sept. 23 against St. Thomas. … After opening the season with a 3-0 loss to UM-Morris, the Wildcats rattled off four straight wins, before back-to-back 3-0 matches to UW-Oshkosh last Saturday and Saint Mary's on Wednesday. … All three of St. Catherine's losses have been 3-0 sweeps, while the Wildcats own a pair of 3-0 and 3-1 wins. SCU's other victory was a five-setter vs. Simpson on Sept. 5. … Alyssa Besch owns a team-leading 66 kills through eight matches, while Zoe Barr is second with 51, and Megan Lindenfeiser, Payton Baker, Amber Zelher, are close behind at 49, 47, and 46, respectively. … Hayley Levenhagen has recorded a team-high 159 assists, with Maria Davis chipping in 92. … Levenhagen and Davis also share the team lead in service aces with eight, while Shanee Herd has amassed a team-best 152 digs.
 
Scouting The St. Norbert Green Knights:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Green Knights enter this weekend's matches at the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational with a 3-7 overall record. … After opening the season with three wins in their first five matches, the Green Knights have dropped five straight—including 3-0 losses to UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday. … Halie Ferry has recorded 119 kills, accounting for nearly one-third of the Green Knights' kills through 10 matches. … Hannah Johnshoy is second to Ferry with 67 kills, with Kristina Herman adding 52. … Kaitlin Delahaut is the team's assist leader with 196, followed by Lauren Lehman with 91. … The Green Knights have recorded 41 service aces, led by Delahaut and Aubree Antosch with nine each. … Antosch is the team's dig leader with 168, while Ferry is just four digs shy of reaching the 100-dig plateau. … The Green Knights have yet to play a home match—they will have played 14 straight road matches before opening a three-match homestand against Cornell next Friday.
 
Scouting The UW-River Falls Falcons:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Falcons enter the Ripon Tournament boasting a 6-5 record, including a 2-2 showing at last weekend's UW-Oshkosh Invitational. … After dropping their first two matches of the season, UW-River Falls has gone 6-3 in its last nine—including putting together a season-high four-match winning streak. … That season-opening two-match losing streak is the only time this season the Falcons have dropped back-to-back matches. … The Falcons have played just one home match through their first 11 contests this season. In fact, UW-River Falls will play its next 10 matches on the road, before finally returning home on Oct. 9-10 for matches against UW-Platteville, UW-Whitewater, and UW-Superior. … Rebecca Gasper has amassed a team-high 124 kills and is hitting a team-leading .313, while Amara Meyer (91) and Tayler Fertig (85) are also closing in on the 100-kill marker. … Raven Klein has accounted for 397 of the team's 457 assists this season, while also leading the team in service aces with 20. … Klein is one of four Falcons with 10 or more aces through 11 matches—Gasper, Kadie Brooks (11), Lexi Pingel (10), and Michaela Piechowski (10) are the others. … Kelin and Brianna Muetzel are the team's digs leaders with 98 and 97, respectively. … Meyer has accumulated a team-leading 28 blocks, two more than Gasper. … UW-River Falls is 3-1 in three-set matches, while going 3-3 in matches that have lasted four sets. The Falcons have played just one five-set match, falling to Hamline 3-2 on Sept. 1.
 
Scouting The Ripon Red Hawks:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Red Hawks enter their home tournament with a 2-8 record, having dropped three straight and eight of their last nine. … Ripon's loss to UW-Oshkosh last Tuesday marked the second straight 3-0 setback. The Red Hawks have been swept in five of their eight losses. … Ripon's Saturday match against Saint Mary's is the sixth and final against teams from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Red Hawks have already faced Gustavus (L, 3-1), Bethel (L, 3-0), Hamline (L, 3-1), and Concordia (L, 3-0), while facing St. Catherine and Saint Mary's this weekend. … Alison Barnes and Katie Berrell have been the Red Hawks' offensive leaders through 10 matches, collecting 93 and 90 kills, respectively. … Abbi Williamson has accounted for 324 of the team's 357 assists, while Emily Gary owns the team lead in aces with 14. … Kendra Holte has amassed a team-leading 192 digs. … The Red Hawks opened the season with back-to-back five-set matches, beating Marian, while falling to UW-Platteville. Since then Ripon has gone 1-5 in three-set matches and 0-2 in four-setters.