ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team is back on the road on Saturday, traveling to St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena for a 3 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against the Tommies.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-0 MIAC | 13-2 Overall) at St. Thomas Tommies (1-1 MIAC | 6-6 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals boasted three players with 10 or more kills—led by Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) with 18—en route to a 3-1 conference win over Hamline Wednesday at Hutton Arena in St. Paul, Minn. | Recap
• St. Thomas: The Tommies picked up their first MIAC win of the season Wednesday, getting 18 kills from Whitney Lloyd in a 3-1 victory over St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas—Their Last Meeting:
• September 17, 2014 * St. Paul, Minn.: Mike Lester knew his Cardinals had a difficult task staring them in the face when they squared off against defending conference champion and nationally ranked St. Thomas in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at Schoenecker Arena. What he didn't realize was just how difficult that task would be—especially after digging themselves into a 2-0 hole. And, unfortunately for the Cardinals—despite a gallant effort—that 2-0 hole proved to be too much, as the Tommies handed Saint Mary's a 3-1 deficit | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals return home on Friday, entertaining Saint Benedict in a 7 p.m. conference match at the Saint Mary's Gym.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies are back on their home court on Wednesday, hosting Hamline in a 7 p.m. MIAC match at Schoenecker Arena.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
•  The Cardinals enter Saturday's showdown against St. Thomas riding a season-high six-match winning streak. … The Cardinals have dropped just two sets during their current six-match winning streak—sweeping St. Catherine (twice), UW-River Falls, and Ripon, while beating St. Norbert  and Hamline by 3-1 counts. … Along with their current six-match win streak, Saint Mary's has also put together a pair of three-match runs this season. … Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.)—coming off her third straight regular-season all-tournament honor at the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational last weekend—equaled her season- and career-high with 18 kills against Hamline Wednesday. It was the third time Fadness has recorded 18 kills. … Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.)—who also owns a season-high 18-kill effort against UW-Platteville on Sept. 11—and Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn.) also reached double figures in kills against the Pipers Wednesday, collecting 13 and 11 kills, respectively. … Fadness heads into Saturday's matchup against St. Thomas leading the team with 190 kills. … Fadness is one of four Cardinals with 100 or more kills through 15 matches this season—Bittle (127), Peterson (112), and Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn. / 112) are the others. … Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.)—the reigning conference and national player of the week—posted a double-double of 16 digs and 11 assists vs. the Pipers Wednesday. … Krogstad, who equaled her career-high with 36 digs against St. Norbert on Sept. 18, has collected 258 digs through 15 matches and is second all-time with 1,871 career digs—321 digs shy of school record-holding Theresa Perrini. … Sullivan collected her team-leading third double-double of the season against Ripon on Sept. 19, recording 12 kills and 11 digs. Sullivan posted 10 kills and 12 digs vs. Luther on Sept. 5 and 13 kills and 16 digs vs. UW-Platteville on Sept. 11 for her other two double-doubles. … Saint Mary's had three players with 10 or more assists against Hamline Wednesday—Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) dished out a team-high 21 helpers, following by Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) with 20 and Krogstad with 10. … Hanson has now recorded 20 or more assists 10 times this season—including a season-high 28-assist effort vs. Loras on Sept. 11. …  Saint Mary's 3-2 win over Loras on Sept. 14 was its first five-set match of the season. … The Cardinals are 6-1 in three-set matches and 6-1 in matches extended to four sets. … Saint Mary's has won the opening set in 11 of its 13 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 4-0 showing at the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational, the Cardinals have now gone 10-2 in their three regular-season tournaments this season. … 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. Thomas Tommies:
2015 Roster | 2015 Statistics | 2015 Schedule
• The Tommies headed into their weekend matches against Northwestern on Friday and Saint Mary's on Saturday riding a season-high three-match winning streak. … Saturday's match against the Cardinals is the second of three straight home matches for the Tommies, who played 11 of their first 12 matches on the road this season. … The Tommies have been stretched to a fifth set in four of their first 12 matches—going 3-1 in those contests. … UST is 2-2 in four-set matches this season, while going just 1-3 in matches decided in three sets. … Taylor Lewis and Whitney Lloyd have been St. Thomas' offensive leaders, boasting 140 and 100 kills, respectively. … Katharine Maliak has amassed a team-best 296 assists, while Rebecca Hawkins has also eclipsed the 100-assist plateau, heading into the weekend with 106. … UST has recorded 44 aces, led by Hawkins with 12 and Lewis with nine. … Jennifer Wild is the team's dig leader with 176, followed by Lewis with 112. … The Tommies were picked to finish third in the MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll, marking the first time in 15 seasons UST was not picked as one of the top two teams in the preseason poll. … The Tommies, who shared the conference title—the program's eighth consecutive championship—and won the league playoffs crown a year ago, lost both three-time All-American Kelly Foley and All-American Jill Greenfield to graduation. That duo helped produce a 126-16 record in their four-year era, highlighted by the 2012 NCAA championship.