SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2022: 9-10 Overall

BUENA VISTA BEAVERS

Home | Roster | Stats | Schedule

2022: 8-10 Overall

LIVE ON THE WEB:

Live Stats * Streaming Video

SMU-BVU * EARLIER THIS YEAR:

W, 3-1 * W, 3-0 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Oct. 8, 2022 * Winona, MN

Carleton * W, 3-0

BUENA VISTA * LAST ACTION:

Oct. 8, 2022 * Storm Lake, IA

U. of Dubuque * W, 3-0

SAINT MARY’S UP NEXT: 

Oct. 14, 2022 * Winona, MN

Saint Benedict * 7:00

Oct., 15, 2022 * Winona, MN

Concordia * 3:00

BUENA VISTA UP NEXT: 

Oct. 21, 2022 * Decorah, IA

Luther * 6:00

Oct. 21, 2022 * Cedar Rapids, IA

Coe * 1:00

SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head into Wednesday’s nonconference matchup against Buena Vista sitting at 9-10 overall, including 2-3 in conference play.

• LAST ACTION: Saint Mary’s got double figures in kills from three players — including a team-high 14-kill effort from Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Wis.) — as the Cardinals collected their second conference sweep in as many days, beating Carleton 3-0 Saturday at the Saint Mary’s Gym.

• FAMILIAR FOE: Wednesday’s matchup against Buena Vista is the third meeting between the two teams this season, with the Cardinals winning the first two. SMU beat the Beavers 3-0 during the Grinnell/Central Invitational on Sept. 3, before adding a 3-1 win over BVU at the Loras Invitational on Sept. 16.

• SWEEPING UP: Including this weekend’s wins over Hamline and Carleton, six of Saint Mary’s nine wins this season have been 3-0 sweeps, with the other three wins coming in four sets. On the flip side, the Cardinals have been swept four times, while falling once in four sets and dropping all five five-set matches.

• FINALLY, HOME: After playing 16 of their first 18 matches on the road, the Cardinals’ nonconference showdown against Buena Vista is the second of four straight home contests.

• ON THE ATTACK: Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) heads into Wednesday’s matchup vs. Buena Vista leading the team with 244 kills, followed by Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) with 211. Ruetten is third on the team with 132 kills, while Elise Amerongen (Lake Elmo, Minn.), Brenna Bruchert (Eau Claire, Wis.), and Faith VanErp (Sartell, Minn.) are sitting at 71, 69, and 66 kills, respectively.

• DOUBLE DIGITS: McNally delivered a single-match season-high 28 kills against Grinnell on Sept. 2, and has recorded 10 or more kills 36 times in her collegiate career — including eight matches of 20 or more kills.

• CAREER BESTS: The Cardinals have had two players post career-highs of 10 or more kills this season. Stigler has recorded a career-best 21 kills twice — first against Webster on Sept. 16 and then again against Hamline Friday night, while Bruchert posted 16 kills in the Cardinals’ 3-1 win over Ripon on Sept. 23. … Stigler posted a career-high 19 digs against Ripon on Sept. 23, and McNally notched a career-high 20 digs against Grinnell on Sept. 17, while Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) put up a career-best 28 digs vs. Luther on Wednesday.

• GIVING AN ASSIST: Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) and Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) have shared the setting duties this season, with Schmidt owning a team-high 331 assists, followed closely by Clem with 294. … Schmidt has recorded at least 20 assists in a match seven times this season — including a season-high 31 against Knox on Sept. 17 — and has delivered 20 or more helpers 23 times over the past two seasons.

• JOINING THE CLUB: With her third assist against Marian on Sept. 10, Schmidt became the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 career assists. Schmidt enters Wednesday’s match against Buena Vista with 1,240 helpers, ranking her 11th all-time. Rachel Monterastelli ’10 is next up on the all-time assist list, sitting in 10th at 1,471.

• DOUBLING UP: McNally picked up her 11th double-double of the season last Friday against Hamline, posting 13 kills and 16 digs, while Stigler added double-double No. 5 with 21 kills and 13 digs. … SMU boasted three players with double-doubles against Luther last Wednesday — McNally (10 kills, 16 digs), Stigler (19 kills, 11 digs), and Schmidt (24 assists, 19 digs). … Schmidt is second on the team with seven double-doubles, followed by Stigler with five and Clem with two.

• DIGGING IT: Payton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) heads into Wednesday’s matchup against Buena Vista owning a team-high 302 digs, and has collected 10 or more digs in 15 of the Cardinals’ 19 matches this season. … McNally is currently second on the team with 221 digs, followed by Schmidt with 161, Stigler with 137, and Clem with 101.

• SERVING UP ACES: Along with her team-leading 302 digs, Berg also leads the team with 40 service aces. VanErp is second with 25, followed by Clem with 24. … As a team, Saint Mary’s owns 146 aces through 19 matches.

• AT THE HELM: The 2021 season is the first at the helm for Cardinal coach Amber Zitzow — who picked up her first Saint Mary’s victory with a 3-0 win over Marian on Sept. 2. Zitzow spent the 2021 season as an assistant coach at UM-Morris, after serving 12 seasons at Rochester Community Technical College (RCTC), the first four as an assistant coach and the last eight as the Yellowjackets’ head coach.

BUENA VISTA BEAVERS SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: Buena Vista heads to Winona, Minn., sporting an 8-10 overall record, including a 3-2 showing through five American Rivers Conference matches.

• LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers picked up their third A-R-C victory in five tries last Saturday, rolling to a 3-0 victory over the University of Dubuque in Storm Lake, Iowa.

• STREAKING: With their win over the University of Dubuque last Saturday, BVU has now won two straight, having also defeated Loras 3-1 last Friday. Buena Vista’s eight wins this season have come via two, three-match winning streaks and its current two-match run. BVU’s 10 losses, meanwhile, have come during losing streaks of three and seven matches.

• HOME SWEET HOME: Buena Vista improved to 4-1 on their home court with last weekend’s wins over Loras and the University of Dubuque. The Beavers’ lone home loss was a 3-1 setback to Grinnell on Sept. 6. … BVU is 0-3 in road matches, and 4-6 in neutral-site contests.

• MIAC OPPONENTS: Saint Mary’s is the third opponent from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the Beavers. Along with three matches against Saint Mary’s — SMU won the first two meetings — BVU has also beaten Concordia (3-0) and lost to St. Catherine (3-1). 

• ON THE ATTACK: Buena Vista enters Wednesday’s match at Saint Mary’s boasting four players who have recorded 100 or more kills this season. Rachel Brockney leads the way for BVU with 226 kills, followed by Courtney Johnson (133), Hannah Smith (114), and Skylar Cole (104). … Brockney has delivered 10 or more kills 14 times this season, including a season-high 22-kill effort against Carroll on Sept. 9.

• GIVING AN ASSIST: Taylor Wedemeyer has been an assist machine for the Beavers this season, accounting for 553 of the team’s 686 helpers through 18 matches. … Wedemeyer has recorded 10 or more assists in 17 of the team’s 18 contests, including five matches with 40 of more assists. … Wedemeyer dished out a season-high 46 helpers against Loras last Friday.

• DIGGING IT: Molly Bense has amassed a team-leading 265 digs, while Brockney has also eclipsed the 200-dig plateau, sitting at 220. Wedemeyer (162), Smith (133), and Kaylee Nosbisch (119) has also racked up more than 100 digs through 18 contests.

• DOUBLING UP: Buena Vista has had a player record a double-double 21 times this season. Brockney owns a team-high 11 kill-dig double-doubles, while Wedemeyer has posted nine assist-dig double-doubles and Smith boasts 1 kill-dig double-doubles.

• SERVING UP ACES: Buena Vista has served up 123 aces this season and boasts six players who have 10 or more aces. Wedemeyer and Brockney lead the way with 22 aces, one more than Johnson, followed by Bense (18), Smith (16), and Molly McCauley (12). 

• BY THE NUMBERS: BVU has posted three 3-0 sweeps, while winning four four-set matches and one contest that was extended to a fifth set. On the flip side, Buena Vista has been swept three times, losing six four-set contests and dropped on five-setter.