By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — Getting off to an early lead wasn't the problem for the Saint Mary's University volleyball team Friday evening.
 
Keeping that lead was.
 
The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in all three sets of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Saint Benedict — keeping that lead, however, proved to be an impossible task.
 
Saint Benedict rallied from those early deficits in all three sets, as the Bennies handed the Cardinals a 3-0 — 25-19, 25-13, 25-23 — setback at Claire Lynch Hall.
 
Linnaea Wallis (Dresser, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals, collecting nine kills, while Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) and Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) each chipped in eight. With her fourth kill of the evening — early in the third set — Blattner became the 13th player in program history to record 1,000 career kills.
 
Lillian Bran (Mantorville, Minn.) recorded her eighth double-double of the season, dishing out 34 assists and adding 14 kills, while DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.) chipped in 13 kills.
 
Hunter Weiss and Madison Weiss each delivered 11 kills and Liz Schultz chipped in 10 for the Blazers, with Katie Koch dishing out 35 of the team's 39 assists.
 
The Cardinals (1-2 MIAC, 8-7 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, heading to Concordia's Memorial Auditorium in Moorhead, Minn., for a 3 p.m. conference match against the Cobbers.