RIPON, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team was nothing if not consistent Friday evening during the opening day of the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational.
 
The Cardinals opened play with a 3-1 win over Marian, and followed that up with an identical 3-1 victory over Milwaukee School of Engineering.
 
Saint Mary's opened with back-to-back set wins over Marian, 25-19 and 25-22, before dropping the third set, 25-21. The Cardinals iced the win with a convincing 25-14 victory in the fourth set.
 
And it was more of the same against MSOE, as Saint Mary's once again won the the first two sets, this time 25-17, 25-17, only to losing the third set—again by a 25-21 count—before sealing the second straight 3-1 win with their third 25-17 win of the match in the fourth set.
 
Erin Lime (Lino Lakes, Minn.) paced a balanced Saint Mary's attack vs. Marian, finishing with eight kills, once more than Tara Nay (Oak Lawn, Ill.) and two better than Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) and Daynalyn Jostock (Millville, Minn.). Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) dished out a team-leading 30 assists and Clare Tack (St. Charles, Ill.) finished with a team-best 22 digs.
 
Gloria Kitange (Rochester, Minn.) and Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals against Marian, finishing with 13 and 10 kills, respectively, while Hanson and Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) added 22 and 16 assists, respectively. Tack posted a team-best 21 digs against the Sabres, while Hanson completed her second double-double of the season with 14 digs.
 
The Cardinals (9-3 overall) are back in action at the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational on Saturday, squaring off against Lawrence (noon) and Ripon (2 p.m.).