By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team puts its perfect 4-0 record on the line this weekend, heading to UW-Stevens Point to compete in the Pointer Invitational. The Cardinals will face host UW-Stevens Point on Friday, before facing Lakeland and Concordia (Wis.) on Saturday.
 
The UW-Stevens Point Invitational Field:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-0 Overall), UW-Stevens Point Pointers (1-3 Overall), Lakeland Muskies (4-0 Overall), Concordia (Wis.) Falcons (2-0 Overall), Carroll Pioneers (3-1 Overall), Bethel Royals (3-1 Overall)
 
The UW-Stevens Point Invitational Schedule:
Friday, September 7, 2018 * Court 1
• UW-Stevens Point vs. Saint Mary's, 3:00 | Carroll vs. Bethel, 5:00 | UW-Stevens Point vs. Concordia (Wis.), 7:00
Saturday, September 8, 2018 * Court 1
• Carroll vs. Lakeland, 10:00 | UW-Stevens Point vs. Carroll, Noon | UW-Stevens Point vs. Bethel, 2 p.m.
Saturday, September 8, 2018 * Court 2
• Bethel vs. Concordia (Wis.), 10:00 | Saint Mary's vs. Lakeland, Noon | Concordia (Wis.) vs. Saint Mary's, 2 p.m.
 
Saint Mary's GameDay Live On The Web:
• vs. UW-Stevens Point: Live Stats * Live Video
• vs. Lakeland and Concordia (Wis.): Live Stats
• Tournament homepage
 
Saint Mary's Last Action:
• August 31-September 1: The Cardinals got 61 kills from Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) and 175 assists from Lillian Braun, as Saint Mary's opened the season with four straight wins at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic | Dominican Recap * Augustana Recap * Edgewood Recap * Luther Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-Stevens Point Invitational Opponents—Their Last Meeting:
• vs. UW-Stevens Point—September 5, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals, coming off three straight wins to open the season—including back-to-back victories over UW-La Crosse and Wisconsin Lutheran the previous evening—could not get shifted out of neutral in against UW-Stevens Point, falling to the Pointers 3-0 during the second day of the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic | Recap
• vs. Lakeland—September 20, 2013 * Ripon, Wis.: The Cardinals squared off against Lakeland for the second time this season to open the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational, and for the second straight time, Saint Mary's rolled to a convincing 3-0 victory | Recap
• vs. Concordia (Wis.)—September 20, 2013 * Ripon, Wis.: The Cardinals picked up their ninth straight win—their longest winning streak since the 2009 season—rolling to a 3-0 victory during the opening day of the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational | Recap
 
Saint Mary's Up Next:
• The Cardinals open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Wednesday, traveling to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown against Bethel.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Cardinals enter tournament play this weekend riding a season-opening four-match winning streak—having swept through last weekend's Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic with wins over Dominican, Augustana (Ill.), Edgewood, and Luther. … With their 4-0 performance at the season-opening Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, the Cardinals are now 11-1 in their last three Classic appearances—and 17-3 in their last five. … Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) amassed 175 assists in the Cardinals' four Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic matches—including a career-high 63 assists against Luther last Saturday. … Braun's 63 assists vs. Luther last Saturday were the second-most in program history, just two shy of record-holder Brittany Cherwinka—who, ironically, is Luther's current head coach. … Braun—who collected 10 double-doubles a year ago—posted her first of the 2018 season with 49 assists and 12 digs against Edgewood last Saturday. … Braun's effort at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic earned her MIAC Setter/Libero of the Week honors. … Fueled by a season-high 21-kill showing against Luther, Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) collected a team-high 61 kills last weekend. … Blattner—who shared the team lead with 10 double-doubles a year ago—picked up her first two double-doubles of the season last Saturday, posting 18 kills and 19 digs against Edgewood, and 21 kills and 15 digs against Luther. … Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) is currently second to Blattner with 39 kills, while Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) is third with 39. … Carley Cronen (Kandiyohi, Minn.) has served up a team-high nine aces through four matches, Braun, Kedl, and Grace Gilles (Apple Valley, Minn.) are tied for second with four aces each. … DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.) owns a team-leading 64 digs—including a single-match career-high 26-dig effort against Luther last Saturday. … Along with her nine aces, Cronen is also second to Baab with 50 digs, two more than Blattner. … The Cardinals, who went 6-3 in five-set matches a year ago, are a perfect 2-0 in five-setters this year—beating both Edgewood and Luther 3-2 last Saturday.
 
Scouting The UW-Stevens Point Pointers:
2018 Roster | 2018 Statistics | 2018 Schedule
• The Pointers head into tournament play have dropped three of four matches at the season-opening Trinity (Texas) Invitational last weekend. The Pointers opened the year with back-to-back 3-0 losses to seventh-ranked Gustavus and Aurora, before falling 3-1 to No. 11 Trinity. UW-SP put an end to its three-game slide with a tournament-ending 3-0 win over Cabrini. … April Gehl collected a team-high 44 kills in the Pointers' four matches at Trinity last weekend, while Rachel Hein and Tara Emme chipped in 28 and 21 kills, respectively. … Ellie Adams owns 105 of the team's 122 assists, while Shannah Carter leads the team with four service aces. … Along with her team-best 44 kills, Gehl also leads the Pointers with 56 digs, nine more than Lisa Bedessem. … UW-Stevens Point finished with 18 blocks during its four Trinity Invitational matches, with Hailey Jarr leading the way with eight. … Three of UW-Stevens Point's four matches have been decided in three sets, with the other going four.
 
Scouting The Lakeland Muskies:
2018 Roster | 2018 Statistics | 2018 Schedule
• Lakeland kicked off its season with a perfect 4-0 showing at their own home tournament, beating Cardinal Stritch (3-2), UW-La Crosse (3-0), Wisconsin Lutheran (3-2), and Oglethorpe (3-0). … Lakeland boasted four players who recorded at least 20 kills during the Lake Tournament last weekend, led by Shannon Bishop with 51 (3.19 kps). Megan Goeser chipped in 33 kills, followed by Shelby Welsh (28) and Ellie Arbetman (22). … Neenah Primas led the way in the assist department last weekend, accounting for 136 of the team's 176 helpers. … Lakeland amassed 23 service aces in four matches last weekend, led by Welsh and Emma Bruder with six each. … Bruder also led the team in digs with 72. She was one of five Muskies to record at least 30 digs in the two-day tournament—Welsh (43), Bishop (41), Brianna Johnson (38), and Primas (33) were the others. … Lakeland has not played a four-set match this season, winning two 3-0 decisions and two that were stretched to a fifth set.
 
Scouting The Concordia (Wis.) Falcons:
2018 Roster | 2018 Statistics | 2018 Schedule
• The Falcons kicked off the 2018 season with back-to-back wins over Concordia-Chicago and Concordia-Ann Arbor in the Concordia Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., last Saturday. The Falcons beat Concordia-Chicago 3-0, while needing four sets to get past Concordia-Ann Arbor. … The Falcons have now on the Concordia Invitational each of the last three seasons. … Holly Anderson and Amanda Schultz led the Concordia (Wis.) offense last Saturday recording 28 and 24 kills, respectively. … Kendall Stribling chipped in 11 kills and hit a team-best .333, just percentage points in front of Anderson's .328 attack percentage. … Haley Sedo and Mackenzie Wockenfus shared the setting duties, with each dishing out 37 assists during the two tournament matches. … The Falcons recorded 23 service aces and had seven different players record at least one ace­—led by Annie Marie Olszowska with 6, and Sedo and Kelsey Kieba with four each. … Madelyn Alton heads into this weekend's action owning a team-high 49 digs, 16 in front of Ariana Richmod.