By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team entered Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Macalester riding a two-match winning streak.
And the Cardinals did not waste any time transforming that into a three-match winning streak — needing just over an hour to dispatch of the Scots and exit Leonard Center with a convincing 3-0 victory.
Saint Mary's came out swinging in the teams' conference showdown, cruising to a 25-15 win in the opening set. It was more of the same in the second set, as the Cardinals scored 16 of the set's final 22 points en route to a second straight 25-15 victory, before completing the sweep with a 25-16 victory in set No. 3.
Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) led a balanced Cardinal offensive attack, hammering out nine kills, while
Gloria Kitange (Rochester, Minn.) hit a team-leading .538 and delivered seven kills and
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) finished with six kills and 14 digs.
Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) dished out 20 of the team's 27 assists and
DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.) collected 16 digs.
Nicole Bennington posted eight kills and Emily Bowler notched 22 assists in the losing effort for Macalester (0-7 MIAC, 9-13 overall).
The Cardinals (3-4 MIAC, 11-8 overall) step out of conference play this weekend, taking part in the Northwestern (Minn.) Quadrangular in St. Paul, Minn. Saint Mary's will face host Northwestern on Friday at 7 p.m., before squaring off against UW-Oshkosh (11 a.m.) and UW-River Falls (1 p.m.) the following day.
