By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team is back in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Friday, as the Cardinals play host to nationally ranked Saint Benedict in a 7 p.m. matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 11-9 Overall) vs. #5 Saint Benedict Bennies (4-0 MIAC, 17-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — October 5, 2019 * Arden Hills, Minn.: Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) posted a double-double of 36 assists and 16 digs, but it was not enough, as the Cardinals dropped a 3-0 conference decision to Bethel at Robertson Center Gym | Recap
• Saint Benedict — October 5, 2019 • St. Joseph, Minn.: The seventh-ranked Bennies dominated their MIAC match against No. 11 Augsburg, rolling to a 3-0 victory at Claire Lynch Hall | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint Benedict — Their Last Meeting:
• September 28, 2018 • St. Joseph, Minn.: The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in all three sets of their 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 | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are right back in action on Saturday, entertaining Concordia in a 3 p.m. MIAC matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.
• Saint Benedict: The Bennies return to the road on Saturday, heading to St. Olaf's Skoglund Center for a 3 p.m. conference showdown with the Oles.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Friday's match against No. 8 Saint Benedict is the first of three straight home matches for the Cardinals, before closing out the regular season with five consecutive road contests. … Lexi Barth (Byron, Minn.) and Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) posted 16 and 11 kills, respectively, in last Saturday's 3-0 loss to Bethel, while Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) led the team in both assists (36) and digs (16). … Braun's double-double against the Royals last Saturday was her fourth of the season. … Linnaea Wallis (Dresser, Wis.) leads team with five double-doubles, while Barth is third with three. … Barth posted her first collegiate double-double against Marian on Sept. 13, posting 11 kills and adding a career-best 12 digs, while Elise Amerongen (Woodbury, Minn.) also posted her first double-double in a Cardinal uniform with a 10-kill, 17-dig showing against Beloit on Sept. 14. … Barth enters this weekend's conference matches against Saint Benedict and Concordia leading the team in kills with 193, followed by Wallis (174), Daynalyn Jostock (Millville, Minn. / 140), and Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn. 139). … With her 36 assists against Bethel Saturday, Braun pushed her team-leading total to 744 through 20 matches. … Braun has eclipsed the 50-assist barrier three this season. Along with her 53 helpers against Coe on Sept. 27, the senior also dished out 52 assists against Marian on Sept. 13 and delivered a season-high 54 against UW-Superior on Aug. 30. … Braun has finished with 50 or more assists in a match eight times in her collegiate career. … Braun, who owned a single-season career-high 1,098 assists a year ago — the most by a Cardinal in a season since 2013, when Lexi Assimos dished out 1,197 — has posted 20 or more assists in 46 of her last 47 matches and has recorded 20 or more assists 63 times in her four-year career. … Braun — who accounted for 36 of Saint Mary's 39 assists vs. Bethel last Saturday and has now recorded 201 of the team's 215 assists in the last five matches — heads into this weekend's matches against Saint Benedict and Concordia with 2,739 career assists — eclipsing the 2,000 career assist mark with her sixth helper against UW-Superior on Aug. 30. … The Cardinals have recorded 118 service aces this season, led by Braun (19), DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn. / 17), Kedl (15), Hayley Weber (Gladbrook, Iowa / 14) and Grace Gilles (Apple Valley, Minn. / 13). … Baab owns a team-high 369 digs through 20 matches, while Braun is second with 162. Wallis (152), Barth (121), and Carley Cronen (Kandiyohi, Minn. / 112) have also eclipsed the 100-dig plateau. … Baab recorded a career-high 42 digs in the Cardinals' loss to Hamline on Sept. 18 — it was the most digs in a match since Theresa Perrini had 41 against Augsburg in 2008, and was just six digs shy of Perrini's single-match school-record 48, set against Loras, also during the 2008 season. … Jostock recorded a career-best 18 kills in Saint Mary's 3-1 win over Augustana on Sept. 28. … Coral Anderson (Rogers, Minn.) equaled her career high with 14 kills against Beloit on Sept. 14, while Hope Miner (Prescott, Wis.) recorded a career-best 11 kills against the Buccaneers. … Jordan Meyers (Eyota, Minn.) owned a career-high 18 digs and Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) dished out a career-high 35 assists against Beloit on Sept. 14, while Cronen notched a career-best 15 digs against Ripon that same day. … Wallis' 17 kills against UW-Superior on Aug. 30 and 19 digs vs. UW-River Falls the following day were both career highs. … With their two wins at the Augustana Viking Classic on Sept. 27-28, six of the Cardinals' last nine victories have been 3-1 decisions. … Saint Mary's owns four, three-set wins, while going 6-1 in four-setters and adding one, five-set victory. On the flip side, six of Saint Mary's nine losses have been 3-0 sweeps. The Cardinals have also dropped two, five-set matches. … With their 2-1 showing at the Augustana Viking Classic last weekend, the Cardinals improved to 9-3 on the road this season. … With their 2-2 showing at this year's season-opening Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, the Cardinals are now 13-3 in their last four Sugar Loaf Classics, while going 19-5 in their last six.
 
Scouting The Saint Benedict Bennies:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Friday's match against Saint Mary's is the first of back-to-back road matches for the Bennies, who are 13-1 away from Claire Lynch Hall this season. … With their win over No. 11 Augsburg, Saint Benedict pushed its winning streak to 14 straight — the Bennies' longest such streak since the 2012 season. … Saint Benedict enters this weekend's matches at Saint Mary's and St. Olaf ranked No. 8 in the latest AVCA Top 25. … The Bennies' lone loss of the season was a 3-1 decision to No. 17 Trinity (Texas) during the season-opening Trinity Invitational on Aug. 31. … Hunter Weiss enters Friday's match against Saint Mary's leading the team with 239 kills, with Madison Weiss (222) and Gabby Heying (173) also owning more than 100 kills this season. … As a team, the Bennies are hitting .273, led by Madison Weiss (.461) and Hunter Weiss (.447). …  Katie Koch has accounted for 701 of the Bennies' 807 assists this season, averaging 10.95 assists-per-set. … Saint Benedict has served up 84 aces through 18 matches, led by Mary Wenisch with 18, Haley LaValle with 15, and Bridget McDonald with 11. … Saint Benedict boasts five players — LaValle (258), Wenisch (214), Koch (169), Bridget McDonald (160), and Maurissa Isaacs (101) — with 100 or more digs this season. … Madison Weiss has amassed a team-high 99 blocks, with Hunter Weiss second with 65. … Ten of Saint Benedict's 17 wins this season have been 3-0 sweeps — including each of the Bennies' last two victories. CSB also owns five, four-set wins, while being stretched to a fifth set in 3-2 conference wins over Bethel and St. Catherine. …