WINONA, Minn. — Through its first 17 matches of the season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team had not dropped back-to-back matches.
 
And Saturday afternoon, the Cardinals made sure that streak remained in tact—in impressive fashion.
 
The Cardinals, who dropped a 3-0 decision to Saint Benedict on Friday evening, took out their frustrations on Concordia Saturday afternoon, rolling to a dominating 3-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
After struggling to get their offense going early in the first set, the Cardinals quickly shifted into high gear, winning the opening set 25-22, before dominating Sets 2 and 3 with 25-12 and 25-17 victories.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinal offense—which hit .301 as a team—collecting a match-high 14 kills, while missing out on her team-leading ninth double-double by one dig. Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) and Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) delivered 21 and 18 assists, respectively, with Clare Tack (St. Charles, Ill.) finishing with a team-best 20 digs. Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) collected eight kills and added one dig, one solo block and four block assists.
 
Haley Cuppett finished with six kills and Jill Klaphake tallied 11 assists in the losing effort for Concordia (1-4 MIAC, 3-10 overall).
 
The Cardinals (3-2 MIAC, 12-6 overall) are back in action on Friday, entertaining Carleton in a 7 p.m. match at the Saint Mary's Gym.