WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team's season-opening joy ride ran into a speed bump Saturday afternoon.
 
The Cardinals, coming off three straight wins to open the season—including back-to-back victories over UW-La Crosse and Wisconsin Lutheran on Friday—could not get shifted out of neutral in Saturday's opening match of the two-day Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic against UW-Stevens Point.
 
The Pointers, meanwhile, never took their foot off the pedal in handing the Cardinals a 3-0 nonconference setback.
 
UW-Stevens Point, ranked No. 7 in the AVCA Preseason Poll, opened the match with a 25-15 Set 1 victory, and followed that up with 25-17 and 25-13 wins in pushing its season-opening winning streak to three.
 
Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn.) led the Cardinal offense, collecting a team-best 12 kills, while Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) chipped in 10. Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) and Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) handle the setting duties, dishing out 19 and 13 assists, respectively, while Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn.) and MacVey both finished in double figures in digs with 16 and 10, respectively.
 
Emma Brunkhorst recorded a team-high 10 kills and seven blocks, and Brittany Laffin finished with 31 assists to lead the way for UW-Stevens Point.
 
The Cardinals are back in action at 4 p.m. Saturday, closing out the two-day Sugar Loaf Classic, with a nonconference match against Luther.