SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS
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2022: 2-6 MIAC, 9-14 Overall
BETHEL ROYALS
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2022: 4-3 MIAC, 12-8 Overall
LIVE ON THE WEB:
Live Stats * Streaming Video
SMU-BU * A YEAR AGO:
Oct. 23, 2021 * Winona, MN
L, 3-0 * Series History
SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:
Oct. 19, 2022 * St. Paul, MN
Macalester * L, 3-1
BETHEL * LAST ACTION:
Oct. 15, 2022 * Arden Hills, MN
St. Catherine * L, 3-0
SAINT MARY’S UP NEXT:
Oct. 25, 2022 * La Crosse, WI
UW-La Crosse * 7:00
BETHEL UP NEXT:
Oct. 25, 2022 * Menomonie, Wis.
UW-Stout * 7:00
SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head into their conference match against Bethel sitting at 9-14 overall, including 2-6 in seven conference play.
• LAST ACTION: The Cardinals got double-doubles from Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.), Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.), and Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.), but it was not enough, as Macalester rattled off wins in sets 3 and 4 to deal SMU a 3-1 conference setback Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn.
• SWEEPING UP: 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 five times, while falling three times in four sets and dropping all six five-set matches.
• END OF THE ROAD: Saturday’s match at Bethel is the second of five consecutive road contests to close out the Cardinals’ regular-season schedule. After Saturday, SMU will play at UW-La Crosse on Wednesday, at St. Olaf on Friday, and at Gustavus on Saturday. … SMU finished 1-5 in home matches this season, while sitting at 8-9 in road matches.
• ON THE ATTACK: McNally heads into Saturday’s matchup at Bethel leading the team with 311 kills, followed by Stigler with 274. Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Wis.) is third on the team with 160 kills, while Elise Amerongen (Lake Elmo, Minn.), Faith VanErp (Sartell, Minn.), and Brenna Bruchert (Eau Claire, Wis.) are sitting at 84, 77, and 73 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 39 times in her collegiate career — including nine 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 on Oct. 7, while Bruchert posted 16 kills in the Cardinals’ 3-1 win over Ripon on Sept. 23. … SMU boasts four players who have recorded career-highs of 10 or more digs this season — Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) put up a career-best 32 digs vs. Saint Benedict on Oct. 14; McNally delivered a career-high 20 digs against Grinnell on Sept. 17; Stigler notched a career-high 19 digs vs. Ripon on Sept. 23, and Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) recorded a career-best 15 digs vs. Buena Vista on Oct 12.
• GIVING AN ASSIST: Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) and Clem have shared the setting duties this season, with Schmidt owning a team-high 414 assists, followed closely by Clem with 369. … Schmidt has recorded at least 20 assists in a match nine times this season — including a season-high 31 against Knox on Sept. 17 — and has delivered 20 or more helpers 25 times over the past two seasons. … Clem has eclipsed the 20-assist mark seven times this season.
• 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 Saturday’s match against Bethel with 1,323 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 14th double-double of the season against Macalester Wednesday, posting 14 kills and 12 digs, while Stigler and Schmidt also had double-doubles against the Scots — Stigler collecting her seventh double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs, and Schmidt notching double-double No. 9 with 22 assists and 12 digs. … Stigler has delivered a kill-dig double-double in each of the Cardinals’ last three matches. … SMU has had three players record double-doubles in the same match twice three times season.
• DIGGING IT: Berg enters Saturday’s matchup against Bethel owning a team-high 392 digs, and has collected 10 or more digs in 13 straight matches — and in 19 of the Cardinals’ 24 contests this season. … McNally is currently second on the team with 267 digs, followed by Schmidt with 198, Stigler with 184, and Clem with 139.
• SERVING UP ACES: Along with her team-leading 392 digs, Berg also leads the team with 42 service aces. VanErp is second with 30, followed by Clem with 24 and McNally with 20. … As a team, Saint Mary’s owns 161 aces through 24 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.
BETHEL ROYALS SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Royals entered their weekend matches against Augsburg and Saint Mary’s sitting at 12-8 overall, including 4-3 in conference play.
• LAST TIME OUT: St. Catherine set the tone early, rolling to a 25-16 win in the opening set and never looked back in dealing the host Royals a 3-0 conference setback last Saturday at Robertson Center Gym in Arden Hills, Minn.
• STREAKING: Bethel’s loss to St. Catherine left the Royals riding a two-match losing streak heading into their weekend matches against Augsburg and Saint Mary’s. … Prior to their back-to-back losses to St. Olaf and St. Catherine, BU had rattled off three straight wins — beating the University of Dubuque (3-1) and sweeping Carleton and St. Scholastica. … After opening the season 3-4, Bethel rattled off a season-high five consecutive victories, before going 4-4 in its last eight contests.
• HOME SWEET HOME: Saturday’s match against Saint Mary’s is the third straight home match for the Royals, who will close out their regular-season schedule with back-to-back-to-back road contests at UW-Stout (Tuesday), Macalester (Friday), and Hamline (Saturday). … BU heads into the weekend with a stellar 5-2 record on their home court, while going 7-6 away from Robertson Center Gym.
• ON THE ATTACK: Kirstin Cotter headed into the weekend leading the team with 284 kills. Cotter is one of four Royals to have amassed more than 100 kills this season, being joined by Dani Friedges (203), Grace Solberg (144), and Emily Rossing (104). … Cotter has delivered at least 10 kills in all but one match this season, and has reached 20+ kills three times — including a season-high 21-kill effort against St. Olaf on Oct. 14.
• GIVING AN ASSIST: Hannah Wilhite has been an assist matching for the Royals, dishing out 703 helpers through 20 matches — recording at least 20 assists in all 22 contests, and eclipsing 40 assists four times. … Wilhite, whose 703 assists rank third in the MIAC, finished with a season-high 54 assists against St. Olaf on Oct. 14.
• DIGGING IT: Kelsie Sealock has collected a team-leading 392 digs and is averaging 5.23 digs-per-set this season. Sealock is one of five BU players with at least 150 digs, being joined by Friedges (234), Cotter (177), Wilhite (162), and Mina Wimmer (160). … Sealock has reached double figures in digs in all but one contest and has posted two matches of 30 or more digs — recording 30 against UW-Whitewater on Sept. 9 and a season-high 34 vs. UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 22.
• DOUBLING UP: Friedges leads the Royals with eight kill-dig double-doubles, one more than Cotter, while Wilhite has chipped in four assist-dig double-doubles.
• SERVING UP ACES: Bethel has served up 96 aces this season and boasts three players who have reached at least 20 aces — Mina Wimmer (22), Wilhite (21), and Friedges (20).
• BY THE NUMBERS: Bethel has recorded 3-0 sweeps in seven of its 12 wins this season, while adding four, four-set victories and one five-setter. BU is 7-2 in three-set matches and 4-3 in four-setters, but are just 1-3 in matches extended to a fifth set. … The Royals have won the first set in 12 of their 20 matches — including 11 of their 12 wins.
