By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MENOMONIE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team entered its nonconference match against UW-Stout with a chip on their shoulder.
 
Which proved to be good news for the Cardinals — and bad news for the Blue Devils.
 
The Cardinals, still smarting from back-to-back conference losses to Saint Benedict and Concordia last weekend, took out their frustrations on the host Blue Devils Wednesday, dealing UW-Stout a 3-1 setback.
 
Saint Mary's kicked things off with 25-21 and 25-20 wins in the opening set, before UW-Stout outlasted the Cardinals 29-27 in a marathon third set — only to have SMU ice the victory with a 25-23 win in set No. 4.
 
Gloria Kitange (Rochester, Minn.) and Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) led the Cardinal offensive charge, finishing with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Flom hit a team-best .500, while Kitange added a .391 attack percentage.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) added seven kills and 13 digs, while Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) dished out 37 assists, DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.) posted a team-leading 16 digs, and Hayley Weber (Gladbrook, Iowa) recorded 11 digs and a team-best four service aces.
 
Lexie Nelson put together a match-high 18 digs and Kennedy Strain added 11, while Jessica DuVal delivered 37 assists in the losing effort for UW-Stout (8-9 overall).
 
The Cardinals (9-8 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Friday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 7 p.m. match against Carleton.