ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team took to the court for Saturday's conference matchup against St. Catherine with a bit of a swagger — an impressive performance in a 3-1 victory the night before will do that to a team.
 
The Wildcats, however, had a swagger of their own — in the form of a three-match winning streak, including back-to-back five-set wins over UW-Superior and Concordia.
 
And fueled by the one-two punch of Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) and Faith Van Erp (Sartell, Minn.), the Cardinals' swagger had grown just a bit bigger, as Saint Mary's sauntered off the Butler Center court sporting a 3-1 victory over the host Wildcats.
 
The Cardinals bent, and bent, and bent some more in the opening set, but they would not break. SMU led by as many as six, 17-11, only to have St. Catherine pull within one three times before knotting the set 23-23. Saint Mary's answered with back-to-back points for the 25-23 victory.
 
There wasn't as much bending in Set 2, but the results were equally as favorable for the Cardinals, who trailed 2-1, rattled off six of the next seven points and never trailed again en route to a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
 
Set 3 proved to be an instant replay of Set 2, as SMU pulled away from a 7-7 deadlock with four straight points to take an 11-7 lead — a lead they would not relinquish in completing the sweep with a 25-21 victory.
 
McNally led the Cardinals' offensive charge with 18 kills and 14 digs for her fourth double-double of the season, while Van Erp chipped in 10. Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) finished with 19 assists, and DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.) and Hannah Skroch (Savage, Minn.) each pitched in 12 digs.
 
The Cardinals (3-1 MIAC, 7-12 overall) are now off until Friday, when they play host to Hamline in a 7 p.m. conference matchup at the Saint Mary's Gym.