By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team, there was nothing easy about Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against St. Catherine.
 
Easy or not, the bottom line was a nail-biting Cardinal victory.
 
In a four-set marathon in which not one set was decided by more than four points, the Cardinals outlasted the visiting Wildcats 3-1 at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The two teams traded wins in the first two sets — with the Cardinals taking Set 1 25-23, while the Wildcats returned the favor with a 25-22 victory. Saint Mary's grabbed its second 25-23 win in the third set, then iced the victory — their first MIAC win of the season — with a 25-21 win the fourth set.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) and Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) led the offensive charge for the Cardinals, finishing with 15 and 13 kills, respectively. With the 15-kill effort — the 13^th time in 14 matches that the Cardinal senior has recorded 10 or more kills — Blattner is just four kills shy of reaching 1,000 for her collegiate career.
 
Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) dished out 44 assists and added 15 digs for her seventh double-double of the year, while DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.) and Coral Anderson (Rogers, Minn.) chipped in 20 and 19 digs, respectively.
 
Emma Nelson finished with 14 kills, and Lauren Isaacson and Mackenzie Peper finished with 12 and 10 kills, respectively in the losing effort for St. Catherine (0-3 MIAC, 6-5 overall)
 
The Cardinals (1-2 MIAC, 8-6 overall) are now off until next Friday and Saturday. Saint Mary's travels to St. Joseph, Minn., on Friday for a 7 p.m. MIAC showdown with Saint Benedict, before heading to Moorhead, Minn., for a 3 p.m. matchup against Concordia the following day.