WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team entered Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Hamline riding high.
 
A two-match conference winning streak will do that to a team.
 
The visiting Pipers, however, were unimpressed — and promptly put an end to that two-match streak, dealing the Cardinals a 3-0 conference setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
In the first set, the Cardinals came out swinging, grabbing early leads of 4-2 and 4-3.  That would be the last time SMU would play with the lead in the opening set, however, ,as the Pipers used three lengthy runs — a 6-0 burst and a pair of 5-0 runs — en route to a 25-14 victory.
 
The Cardinals and Pipers traded points for much of the early portion of the second set, but again HU would rattled off six unanswered points and cruised to a 25-17 victory — and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match.
 
The Pipers were all over SMU in the final setting, building a 17-5 advantage that the Cardinals were not able to overcome in falling 25-15.
 
Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) led the Cardinal offense with seven kills, one more than Izabella Pigorsch (La Crosse, Wis.), while Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) contributed nine assists with 10 digs as well.
 
The Cardinals (3-2 MIAC, 7-13 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, as they travel  down the river to La Crosse, Wis., for a 7 p.m. nonconference match against UW-La Crosse.