WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University volleyball team put an end to one streak on Friday night, and, 24 hours later, the Cardinals kick-started another.
 
Fresh off a 3-0 sweep of Carleton on Friday — a win that earned the Cardinals their first MIAC win of the season, and put an end to a three-match losing streak — Saint Mary's made things look easy against Carleton on Saturday.
 
The Cardinals, playing just their third match in front of the home crowd at the Saint Mary's Gym, never let the visiting Knights get into a rhythm, rattling off three straight set victories for their second straight 3-0 conference sweep
 
The Cardinals flexed their muscles early on, erasing Carleton's lone lead of the set, 3-2, with 10 of the next 12 points for a commanding 12-5 lead. SMU would push that lead to as many as 10 – winning the final four points of the set for a 25-15 victory.
 
Saint Mary's would pad its lead to 2-0 with a win in the second set — but it didn't come nearly as easily.
 
In a set that included nine ties, the Cardinals would not take their first lead in the set until grabbing a 13-12 advantage. SMU would lead for the second time in the set, 15-14 — and would never relinquish it, 10 of the final 17 points for a 25-21 victory.
 
Saint Mary's completed the sweep in much the same fashion it started the match — dominating the Knights early and late. The Cardinals rattled off the first three points of the match and never relinquished the lead, closing out the sweep clinching win by winning nine of the final 11 points for a 25-17 victory.
 
Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Wis.) led a trio of Cardinals with 10 or more kills, racking up 14, while Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) and Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) chipped in 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) delivered 15 assists, two more than Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) and Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) finished with a team-leading 11 digs.
 
The Cardinals (2-3 MIAC, 9-10 overall) step out of conference play on Wednesday, hosting Buena Vista in a 7 p.m. nonconference match at the SMU Gym. It's the third time this season the Cardinals and Beavers will square off — with SMU holding 3-1 and 3-0 victories in their first two meetings.
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