WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team closes out the home portion of its schedule—and bids farewell to its four graduating seniors—with a 7 p.m. showdown against UW-La Crosse Wednesday at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (14-9 Overall) vs. UW-La Crosse Eagles (16-6 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video | GameDay Program | Senior Salute (HTML * PDF)
 
Their Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—October 13-14, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Cardinals suffered three losses at the Northwestern Quadrangular, falling to #7 Northwestern 3-0, before dropping back-to-back 3-1 decisions to UW-River Falls and #9 UW-Whitewater | Day 1 Recap * Day 2 Recap
• UW-La Crosse—October 14, 2017 * Platteville, Wis.: The Eagles pushed its perfect WIAC record to 5-0, cruising to a 3-0 victory over UW-Platteville in Williams Fieldhouse | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-La Crosse—Their Last Meeting:
• September 4, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: 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 | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for back-to-back conference matchups against Hamline (Friday) and St. Thomas (Saturday).
• UW-La Crosse: The Eagles are now off until next Wednesday, when they host ninth-ranked UW-Whitewater in a 7 p.m. WIAC match at Mitchell Hall in La Crosse, Wis.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Wednesday's match against UW-La Crosse is the final nonconference match, the final regular-season home match, and the final regular-season home match in the collegiate careers of graduating seniors Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa), Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn.), Clare Tack (St. Charles, Ill.), and Tara Nagy (Oak Lawn, Ill.). … The Cardinals head into Wednesday's showdown against UW-La Crosse 7-2 on their home court, while going 7-7 away from the Saint Mary's Gym—including 5-3 in neutral-court matches. … Last Friday's 3-0 loss to No. 7 Northwestern snapped the Cardinals' three-match winning streak. … Nine of Saint Mary's 14 wins have come during three, season-high three-match winning streaks. … Last Saturday's losses to UW-River Falls and No. 9 UW-Whitewater marked the first time this season Saint Mary's has dropped back-to-back matches. … Four of Saint Mary's final eight opponents are nationally ranked. Along with No. 7 Northwestern and No. 9 UW-Whitewater, the Cardinals still have No. 11 Gustavus and No. 19 St. Thomas on their schedule—not to mention UW-La Crosse, which received votes in the latest poll. … Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) collected a team-high 31 kills in the Cardinals' three matches at the Northwestern Quadrangular last weekend. Lind and Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.), meanwhile, each chipped in 19 kills. … Hanson recorded a team-high 45 assists and Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) added 33. Braun, Hanson, and Blattner all finished with a pair of service aces last weekend, while Tack delivered a team-best 41 digs, 11 more than Hanson. … Blattner—an AVCA Second-Team All-American a year ago—heads into Wednesday's match against UW-La Crosse with a team-leading 263 kills, followed by Kedl (168), Lind (137), Linnaea Wallis (Dresser, Wis. / 122), and Gloria Kitange (Rochester, Minn. / 121). … Kitange and Kedl both posted career highs in kills in the Cardinals' 3-2 win over Central-Iowa on Sept. 2. Kitange led the way with a team-high 16 kills, one more than Kedl. … Hanson and Braun have shared the setting duties all season, with Hanson boasting a team-leading 493 helpers, with Braun close behind with 394. … Hanson posted a season-high 38-assist effort against Lawrence on Sept. 16. … Braun's 31 assists vs. Carleton on Oct. 6 were a career high. … Hanson has posted 20 or more assists in 13 of the Cardinals' 23 matches—including three matches of 30 or more helpers. … Braun has delivered 20 or more assists seven times this season. … Hanson leads the team with 31 aces,, two more than Braun. … Tack boasts a team- and career-best 362 digs, while Hanson (220), Blattner (206), Braun (180), Carley Cronen (Kandiyohi, Minn. / 151), and Wallis (106) have also eclipsed the 100-dig plateau. … Tack posted a career-high 38 digs against St. Catherine on Sept. 23 en route to earning MIAC Setter/Libero of the Week honors. … Tack's 38 digs vs. the Wildcats were the most in a match since Theresa Perrini recorded 41 against Augsburg on Oct. 24, 2008. … Cronen—who recorded a team-leading 20 digs against Macalester Wednesday—notched a career-best 22 digs in Saint Mary's 3-1 win over Wisconsin Lutheran on Sept. 8. … The Cardinals boasted a season-high four players with double-doubles against Carleton on Oct. 6. Blattner recorded her team-leading ninth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 13 digs, while Braun and Hanson added 31-assist/15-dig and 13-assist/17-dig efforts, and Tack chipped in her first collegiate double-double with 10 assists and a team-high 25 digs. … Hanson is second to Blattner with eight double-doubles, with Braun third with seven. … The Cardinals have played eight, five-set matches this season—beating Carthage, Central-Iowa, No. 8 Washington (Mo.) University, Bethel, St. Catherine, and Carleton, while falling to UW-Oshkosh and Lawrence. Saint Mary's played just one five-setter a year ago. … The Cardinals' 3-0 loss to No. 7 Northwestern last Friday marked just the second time this season Saint Mary's has been swept. … The Cardinals picked up their first win in program history against Washington (Mo.) University at the UW-Oshkosh Tournament on Sept. 8, handing the eighth-ranked Bears a 3-2 setback. … With its 3-2 win over Bethel on Sept. 12, Saint Mary's snapped a three-match losing streak vs. the Royals—dating back to a 3-1 win in the opening round of the 2014 MIAC Playoffs. … With their 3-1 showing at the Ripon Red Hawk Classic on Sept. 15-16, the Cardinals have now gone 3-1 in each of their three regular-season tournaments this season. … With their 3-1 performance at the season-opening Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, the Cardinals are now 7-1 in their last two Classic appearances—and 13-3 in their last four. … The Cardinals, who closed out the MIAC regular-season with an 8-3 record a year ago—earning the conference's No. 4 seed in the post-season tournament for the second straight year. … The Cardinals made their fourth straight MIAC Playoff appearance last season, falling to Bethel 3-1 in the opening round.
 
Scouting The UW-La Crosse Eagles:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• With their 3-0 victory over UW-Platteville last Saturday, the Eagles have now won back-to-back matches and four of their last five. … Wednesday's match against Saint Mary's is the 20^th road match of the season for the Eagles—who have played just three times on their home court. UW-L—which closes out the regular season with back-to-back home contests—is 2-1 at Mitchell Hall, while going 14-5 away from home—including 8-4 in neutral-site matches. … Stephanie Henk enters Wednesday's showdown with Saint Mary's boasting a team-leading 258 kills, while also hitting .214. … Henk is one of five Eagles who have eclipsed the 100-kill plateau—Laine Hoeffel (160), Marisa Johnson (154), Jessica Jablonski (147), and Kathryn Maas (122) are the others. … Maas is hitting a team-best .255, percentage points in front of Jablonski (.253). … Maddie Entinger has accounted for 744 of the team's 895 assists. … Henk has served up 30 aces and is one of six Eagles with 10 or more aces. Lakken Meredith is second to Henk with 22 aces, followed by Entinger (20), Paige Schmidt (19), Halle Barnabo (18), and Marisa Johnson (17). … Barnabo is the team-leader in digs with 324. Entinger (201), Schmidt (184), Henk (184), and Johnson (120) also own more than 100 digs. … The Eagles' sweep of UW-Platteville last Saturday was its 12^th 3-0 win of the season. UW-L also owns three four-set wins and one five-setter. On the flip side, the Eagles have lost two three-set, four-set, and five-set matches.