WINONA, Minn. — It took the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team a set to get warmed up, but once they did, the Cardinals were unstoppable.
 
Saint Mary's dropped the opening set of its opening-round match of the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, unfortunately for visiting UW-La Crosse, all that loss did is wake a sleeping giant.
 
An angry, sleeping giant.
 
The Cardinals rattled off three straight wins—erasing a first-set 25-16 setback with 25-16, 32-30 and 25-21 victories—to drop the Eagles 3-1.
 
Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals, hammering out a match-high 18 kills, while Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn.) and Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) chipped in 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) and Brittney Hanson () combined to dish out 41 assists—23 by MacVey and 18 by Hanson—with Lex Krogstad adding 19 digs and a pair of ace serves.
 
Stephanie Henk and Leah Putzier finished with 15 and 13 kills, respectively for the Eagles, who also got 36 assists from Jaclyn Barette and 16 digs from Paige Schmidt.
 
The Cardinals, who improved to 2-0 with the win, are back in action at 6 p.m., squaring off against Wisconsin Lutheran.