STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team put an end to a three-match losing streak with a pair of dominating performances in the third and fourth sets Wednesday evening en route to a 3-1 win over UW-Stout.
 
And the Cardinals picked up right where they left off Friday evening — literally.
 
As dominating as the Cardinals were in those final two sets against UW-Stout Wednesday, the Cardinals were even better to open their first match of the UW-Stevens Point Invitational against Beloit on Friday.
 
The Cardinals jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first set and never took their foot off the accelerator in rolling to a 3-0 victory over the Buccaneers.
 
Saint Mary's was in complete control from start-to-finish in the opening set, building its lead to as many as 14, 21-7, before setting for a 25-13 victory.
 
The Cardinals ran into a few minor speed bumps in Sets 2 and 3 — but they were nothing the Cardinals couldn't handle in evening their overall record at 3-3.
 
After Saint Mary's grabbed a quick 6-3 lead, the Buccaneers made their move, holding leads of 8-7, 10-9, 11-10, 12-11, and their biggest advantage of the set, 13-11. From there, however, Saint Mary's regrouped and took control, rattling off seven straight points for an 18-13 cushion and coasted to a 25-19 win.
 
Beloit took a page out of the Cardinals' playbook and took control early in the third set, posting its biggest lead of the match, 16-10. Unfazed, Saint Mary's slowly and methodically chipped away at the Buccaneers' advantage, pulling even at 18-18, 19-19, 22-22, and 23-23, before recording the final two points of the set to seal the win, 25-23.
 
Faith Van Erp (Sartell, Minn.) led the Cardinals' offensive attack, finishing with a career-high nine kills, while Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) — coming off a career-high 25-kill effort against UW-Stout — chipped in seven kills, and Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Minn.) and Kylie Davidson (Pine Island, Minn.) each added six. Kallie Magaard (Mankato, Minn.) dished out a career-best 18 assists and Hannah Skroch (Savage, Minn.) chipped in 13 digs.
 
The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday, squaring off against Marian () and host UW-Stevens Point during the second day of the UW-Stevens Point Invitational in Stevens Point, Wis.