ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Friday, as the Cardinals travel to Hamline's Hutton Arena for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Pipers.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-2 MIAC * 14-10 Overall) at Hamline Pipers (0-7 MIAC * 3-22 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Their Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—October 18, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals came up just short in their final nonconference match of the season, dropping a 15-7 decision in the fifth set in falling to UW-La Crosse 3-2 at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
• Hamline—October 17, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Pipers recorded season-highs for kills, assists, digs, and service aces, but it was not enough as St. Scholastica dealt HU a 3-2 nonconference setback at Hutton Arena | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Hamline—A Year Ago:
• September 21, 2016 * Winona, Minn.: Fueled by Lexi Barth's (Byron, Minn.) 11 kills and Morgan Thomas' (Palos Park, Ill.) 16 digs, the Cardinals wasted little time improving to 2-0 in conference play—and 14-1 overall—rolling to a 3-0 win over the Pipers at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are right back in action—and right back on the road—on Saturday, returning to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against St. Thomas.
• Hamline: The Pipers head across town to St. Catherine on Saturday, squaring off against the Wildcats in a 3 p.m. MIAC match at Butler Center.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Wednesday's match against UW-La Crosse was 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.). … Wednesday's setback against UW-La Crosse was just the third loss on their home court for the Cardinals, who enter the weekend 7-3 at the Saint Mary's Gym and 7-7 on the road—including 5-3 in neutral-court matches. … Nine of Saint Mary's 14 wins have come during three, season-high three-match winning streaks. … Four of Saint Mary's final eight opponents are nationally ranked. Saint Mary's dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 7 Northwestern on Oct. 13 and fell to No. 9 UW-Whitewater 3-1 the following day, and still have No. 19 St. Thomas and No. 11 Gustavus on their schedule. … Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) collected her team-leading 10^th double-double against UW-La Crosse Wednesday, leading the team with 11 kills and 19 digs. … Blattner—an AVCA Second-Team All-American a year ago—heads into Friday's match against Hamline with a team-leading 274 kills, followed by Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn. / 178), Lind (142), Linnaea Wallis (Dresser, Wis. / 123), 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 Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) have shared the setting duties all season, with Hanson boasting a team-leading 512 helpers, with Braun close behind with 416. … 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 14 of the Cardinals' 24 matches—including three matches of 30 or more helpers. Braun—who led the team with 22 assists vs. UW-La Crosse Wednesday—owns nine matches of 20 or more assists this season. … Hanson leads the team with 33 aces,, two more than Braun. … Tack boasts a team- and career-best 379 digs, while Blattner (225), Hanson (223), Braun (197), Carley Cronen (Kandiyohi, Minn. / 1514, and Wallis (110) 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 led the way 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. … Braun posted a 22-assist, 17-dig night against UW-La Crosse to move into a tie with Hanson for second with eight double-doubles. … With Wednesday's loss to UW-La Crosse, the Cardinals have played nine, five-set matches this season—beating Carthage, Central-Iowa, No. 8 Washington (Mo.) University, Bethel, St. Catherine, and Carleton, while falling to UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, and Lawrence. Saint Mary's played just one five-setter a year ago. … The Cardinals' 3-0 loss to No. 7 Northwestern on Oct. 13 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 Hamline Pipers:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Friday's match against Saint Mary's is the third straight home contest for the Pipers, who will play six of their final seven matches on their home court. … Last Tuesday's 3-2 loss vs. St. Scholastica was the final nonconference match of the season for Hamline, which finished 3-15 against non-MIAC opponents. … The Pipers set single-match season highs in kills (61), assists (59), digs (87) and aces (12) in their 3-2 loss to St. Scholastica last Tuesday. … HU had four players notch 10 or more kills in its 61-kill effort vs. St. Scholastica. Morgen Coleman led the way with 13 kills, followed by Jaelin Jones (12), Stephanie Maresh (12) and Cass Bittle (11). … Bittle and Coleman enter Friday's match against Saint Mary's as the team's kills leader with 180 and 158 kills, respectively. … Coleman, who posted 30 assists against St. Scholastica last Tuesday, owns a team-leading 324 assists, with Megan Rubbelke—who dished out 25 helpers vs. the Saints—close behind with 241. … Hamline has amassed a 130 aces through 25 matches, led by Coleman with 33 and Rubbelke with 24. … Megan Anderson boasts a team-best 353 digs and is one of three Pipers with 200 or more digs this season—Coleman (224) and Marisa Franco (205) are the other two. … With their loss to St. Scholastica last Tuesday, the Pipers saw their losing streak climb to 20 straight matches. HU—which opened the season with three wins in its first five matches—has not won since beating Crown 3-0 on Sept. 6. … The Pipers are 1-6 on their home court this season, while going 2-16 away from Hutton Arena—including 2-9 in neutral-site matches.