ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals travel to St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena for a 3 p.m. matchup against the Tommies.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-2 MIAC * 15-10 Overall) at #20 St. Thomas Tommies (7-1 MIAC * 21-5 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Their Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—October 20, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: The Cardinals posted three players with 10 or more kills—led by Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) with 11—as Saint Mary's rolled to a 3-1 win over Hamline at Hutton Arena | Recap
• St. Thomas—October 20, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: Whitney Lloyd had 16 kills and hit .300 and Madie Kroehler had 30 digs as the 20th-ranked Tommies held off Bethel 3-1 in a conference match at Schoenecker Arena | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas—A Year Ago:
• October 24, 2016 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals had no answer for the 1-2 combination of Taylor Lewis and Whitney Lloyd, as Lewis racked up 10 kills and Lloyd delivered eight blocks in leading the Tommies to a 3-0 victory at the Saint Mary's Gym | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on the road on Wednesday, heading to St. Olaf's Skoglund Center in Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. conference showdown with the Oles.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies hit the road for their final two regular-season matches next week, heading across town for MIAC matchups against Hamline (Wednesday) and St. Catherine (Saturday).
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Friday's 3-1 win over Hamline snapped the Cardinals' season-high four-match losing streak. … With Friday's win, the Cardinals remained tied for second place in the regular-season standing with Augsburg, Gustavus, and Saint Benedict, one game back of league-leading St. Thomas and one game in front of sixth-place St. Olaf. … Last 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 15 wins have come during three, season-high three-match winning streaks. … Four of Saint Mary's final eight regular-season 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. 20 St. Thomas and No. 11 Gustavus on their schedule. … Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) led a balanced Saint Mary's offensive attack against Hamline Friday, recording 11 kills and hitting .500, while Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) and Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn.) each chipped in 10 kills. Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) and Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) each dished out 22 assists, while Clare Tack (St. Charles, Ill.) notched a team-best 22 digs and Braun completed her ninth double-double of the season by adding 10 digs to her 22 assists. … Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) collected her team-leading 10^th double-double against UW-La Crosse last Wednesday, leading the team with 11 kills and 19 digs. … Blattner—an AVCA Second-Team All-American a year ago—heads into Saturday's match against St. Thomas with a team-leading 284 kills, followed by Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn. / 185), Lind (152), Linnaea Wallis (Dresser, Wis. / 130), 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 534 helpers, with Braun close behind with 438. … 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 15 of the Cardinals' 25 matches—including three matches of 30 or more helpers. Braun—who has posted back-to-back matches with 22 assists—owns 10 matches of 20 or more assists this season. … Braun leads the team with 37 aces,, four more than Hanson. … Tack boasts a team- and career-best 401 digs, while Blattner (233), Hanson (231), Braun (207), Carley Cronen (Kandiyohi, Minn. / 154), and Wallis (112) 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 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. … Blattner leads the team with 10 double-doubles, one more than Braun and two in front of Hanson. … 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. … Saint Mary's 3-0 victory over UW-Stout on Sept. 1 was the first collegiate coaching win for Cardinal head coach Jackie Kiecker.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2017 Roster | 2017 Statistics | 2017 Schedule
• Saturday's match against Saint Mary's is the final home match of the regular-season for the Tommies, who play just five of their 29 matches this season on their home court. … With their 3-1 win over Bethel Friday, St. Thomas improved to 4-0 at Schoenecker Arena this season. UST is 17-5 on the road—including a 10-2 mark in neutral-site matches. … St. Thomas enters Saturday's matchup against Saint Mary's ranked No. 20 in the latest AVCA Top 25. … Thanks to Friday's victory over Bethel, the Tommies have now won two straight and six of their last seven. … After dropping a season-opening 3-0 decision to Pacific Lutheran, the Tommies rattled off a season-high nine straight victories. UST also owns a six-match winning streak this season. … With Friday's win over Bethel, St. Thomas—which holds a one-game lead over four other teams in the conference standings—secured one of the six MIAC Playoff berths. … Whitney Lloyd—who had a team-high 16 kills against Bethel Wednesday—leads the Tommies with 215 kills, while hitting a team-best .330. … Lloyd is one of five UST players with 100 or more kills this season—Madie Kroehler (174), Julia Spacek (152), Brooke Reichart (137), and Ellie Etzell (136) are the others. … Katharine Mallak has amassed a team-best 481 assists, with Hannah Schwartz close behind with 381. Both Mallak (6.01) and Schwartz (5.28) are averaging more than five sets a set, and the two have combined for 872 of the team's 1060 assists. … St. Thomas has served up 113 aces, led by Kroehler with 33. … Ellie Meyer and Kroehler have each recorded 300 or more digs through 26 matches—Kroehler leads the way with 342, followed by Meyer with 339. … Sixteen of the Tommies' 21 wins have come in three sets. UST is also 3-1 in four-set matches and 2-0 in five-setters. … With their five-set win over Augsburg last Saturday, St. Thomas reached the 20-win plateau for the 18^th time in the last 19 seasons.