STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Saint Mary's University volleyball coach Amber Zitzow knew her Cardinals were going to have their hands full with UW-Stevens Point in their first match of the UW-Stevens Point Invitational Saturday afternoon.
 
After all, the Pointers — winners of four of their first five matches — enter the nonconference showdown ranked No. 24 in the latest AVCA Top 25 Poll.
 
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Pointers lived up to that national ranking, dealing Saint Mary's a 3-0 setback.
 
Down, but far from out, the Cardinals took out their first-match frustrations on Marian, their second opponent of the afternoon, collecting a 3-1 victory.
 
Saint Mary's gave UW-Stevens Point all it could handle in the opening set of their match, before a late run gave the Pointers the 25-19 win. UW-SP maintained the momentum over the final two sets in posting 25-14 and 25-15 victories to complete the sweep.
 
Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) delivered nine kills against the Pointers, while Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) chipped in five and Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Wis.) added four. Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) dished out a team-best 11 assists, with Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) and Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) sharing the team lead with eight digs each.
 
The Cardinals' showdown with Marian proved to be a near-repeat performance of the teams' first meeting of the season — a 3-0 SMU victory at the Grinnell/Central Invitational last weekend — as Saint Mary's dominated the first two sets with wins of 25-20 and 25-19, and, after a slight hiccup in losing the third set 25-22, completed the four-set win with a 25-17 triumph.
 
McNally delivered a 16-kill, 16-dig double-double, while Clem chipped in a double-double of her own with 16 assists and 12 digs. Ruetten chipped in 12 kills and Schmidt posted a team-high 18 assists. Hannah Herman (Fall Creek, Wis.) was the third Cardinal in double figures in digs, finishing with 12.
 
The Cardinals (4-2 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, when the kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play by hosting Augsburg in a 7 p.m. match at the Saint Mary's Gym.