ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team took the court Saturday evening looking to do something no other Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team had done — beat Gustavus.
Instead, the Cardinals felt the Gusties' wrath in the same way the previous 10 conference opponents had, as Gustavus — the regular-season MIAC champion — completed a perfect 11-0 run through the league schedule with a 3-0 win over Saint Mary's at Gus Young Court.
The Gusties picked up their sixth sweep of the season — including five of their last six MIAC contests — in dealing Saint Mary's the season-ending setback at Gus Young Court.
The Cardinals put together arguably their best set performance of the season in the opening set against GAC, matching the high-powered Gusties point-for-point, and were deadlocked at 21-21. Gustavus, however, showed why its ranked among the best in the country, getting back-to-back kills from Lauren Klaith to spark a set-ending 4-0 run to give GAC the 25-21 win.
And Gustavus picked up right where it left off in the second set, rattling off the first seven points and never letting the Cardinals close the gap, coasting to a
After surrendering the first four points to open the third set, the Cardinals refused to throw in the towel, using a 6-2 run to claw their way within two, 14-12. That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as Gustavus held the Cardinals at bay the rest of the way in sealing the three-set sweep with a 25-20 victory.
Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) and
Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinal offense with nine and eight kills, respectively.
Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) and
Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) — playing in their final match in a Cardinal uniform — both delivered 11 assists, and
Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) finished with a team-besst 15 digs.
The Cardinals close out the year with a 9-18 overall record, including a 2-9 conference showing.
