SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS
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2022: 3-1 Overall
UW-STEVENS POINT POINTERS
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2022: 4-1 Overall
MARIAN SABRES
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2022: 0-4 Overall
LIVE ON THE WEB:
Live Stats * Streaming Video
SMU-UWSP * LAST MEETING:
Sept. 11, 2021 * Stevens Pt., WI
L, 3-0 * Series History
SMU-MARIAN * LAST MEETING:
Sept. 2, 2022 * Grinnell, IA
W, 3-0 * Series History
SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:
Sept. 2-3, 2022 * Grinnell IA
Marian * W, 3-0 | Grinnell * L, 3-2
Bethany Luth. * W, 3-0 | Buena Vista * W, 3-1
MARIAN * LAST ACTION:
Sept. 2-3, 2022 * Grinnell, IA
Saint Mary’s * L, 3-0 | Grinnell * L, 3-1
Cornell * L, 3-0 | St. Kate’s * L, 3-1
UWSP * LAST ACTION:
Sept. 7, 2022 * Oshkosh, WI
Lakeland * W, 3-1 | St. Norbert * W, 3-0
SAINT MARY’S UP NEXT:
Sept. 13, 2022 * Winona, MN
Augsburg * 7:00
UWSP UP NEXT:
Sept. 14, 2022 * Stevens Pt., WI
UW-Stout * 7:00
MARIAN UP NEXT:
Sept. 14, 2022 * Fond du Lac, WI
Alverno * 7:00
SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head to Stevens Point, Wis., boasting a 3-1 overall record.
• LEADING THE CHARGE: 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 last weekend at the Grinnell/Central Invitational. 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.
• ROAD WARRIORS: This weekend’s matches at UW-Stevens Point are the fifth and sixth straight road contests for the Cardinals, who play 14 of their first 15 contests on the road, the lone exception, SMU’s conference-opening showdown with Augsburg on Sept.13.
• ON THE ATTACK: Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) delivered a team-leading 57 kills in SMU’s four matches at the Grinnell/Central Invitational last weekend. McNally delivered a season-high 28 kills against Grinnell last Friday, and has now recorded 10 or more kills 25 times in her collegiate career — including six matches of 20 or more kills.
• ON THE ATTACK, PART II: The Cardinals had two players recorded career-highs of 10 or more kills during last weekend’s season-opening Grinnell/Central Invitational. Brenna Bruchert (Eau Claire, Wis.) recorded 10 kills in the Cardinals’ 3-2 loss to Grinnell last Friday, while Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) posted 11 kills in SMU’s 3-1 win over Buena Vista the following afternoon.
• GIVING AN ASSIST: Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) and Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) shared the setting duties last weekend. Schmidt finished the four-match tournament with a team-leading 80 assists, followed closely by Clem with 61. … With her 24 assists against Grinnell and 24 vs. Buena Vista, Schmidt has now recorded at least 20 helpers in a match 16 times in the past two seasons.
• DOUBLING UP: McNally picked up kill-dig double-doubles in three of Saint Mary’s four matches last weekend at the Grinnell/Central Invitational, while Schmidt — who led the team with seven double-doubles last season — delivered a pair of assist-dig double-doubles.
• DIGGING IT: Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) made quite a first impression in her first collegiate tournament, racking up a team-high 78 digs in SMU’s four matches at the Grinnell/Central Invitational. Berg delivered a career-best 25-dig effort against Grinnell last Friday, and added a 20-dig showing against Buena Vista the following day. … McNally is currently second on the team with 48 digs, followed by Schmidt with 32 and Hannah Herman () with 27.
• SERVING UP ACES: Along with her team-leading 78 digs, Berg also leads the team with 17 service aces, nine in front of both Herman and McNally. … As a team, Saint Mary’s owns 49 aces through four matches.
• FAST START: The Cardinals have won the first set in all three of their wins this season, while going 0-1 when losing the first set of the match.
MARIAN SABRES SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Sabres head into their weekend’s matches at UW-Oshkosh on Friday and UW-Stevens Point on Saturday still searching for their first win, sitting at 0-4 overall.
• LAST ACTION: Marian came up empty in its four matches at the season-opening Grinnell/Central Invitational, falling to Saint Mary’s (3-0), Grinnell (3-1), Cornell (3-0), and St. Catherine (3-1).
• ROAD WARRIORS: Marian, which played 23 of its 29 matches last season on the road, opens the 2022 campaign with eight straight road matches. The Sabres play 17 of their first 18 contests on the road, the lone exception, a home contest against Alverno on Sept. 14 in Fond du Lac, Wis.
• ON THE ATTACK: Kaitlyn Merrill, who closed out the 2021 season owning a team-high 322 kills (3.62 kps), led the Sabres with 34 kills in their four matches at the Grinnell/Central Invitational, while Jenna Butschlick chipped in 27 kills and Riley Shores added 18. …
• GIVING AN ASSIST: Anna Tapia — who accounted for 881 of the team’s 1043 assists in 2021 — picked up where she left off, dishing out 66 of Marian’s 95 helpers last weekend in Grinnell, Iowa. … After recording 10 or more assists in all 29 matches last season — including 17 matches of 20 or more helpers — Tapia had double-digit assists in all four matches last weekend, highlighted by a season-best 24-assist effort against Grinnell on Sept. 2.
• DIGGING IT: Reagan Jasica recorded a team-best 38 digs for the Sabres in their four Grinnell/Central Invitational matches, with Kaitlyn Merrill close behind with 32. … Jasica finished with 316 digs a year ago.
• SERVING UP ACES: Mikalah Mueller, Reagan Brown, and Merrill all recorded a team-high four service aces during Marian’s season-opening weekend in Grinnell, Iowa.
• AS A TEAM: The Sabres collected 114 kills in four matches last weekend (8.14 kps) and finished with a .113 attack percentage. … Marian amassed 95 assists, 24 aces, 172 digs, and 17 blocks.
• STREAKY YEAR: After opening the 2021 campaign with back-to-back losses to Carthage and Lake Forest, Marian rattled off wins in eight of their next nine — including a season-high seven-match winning streak. … The 3-0 win over Grace Christian on Oct. 29 — which jump-started their season-ending four-match winning streak — also snapped Marian’s season-high six-match losing streak.
• BY THE NUMBERS: Nine of Marian’s 15 wins last season were 3-0 sweeps. The Sabres also recorded three, four-set wins, and added three wins that were stretched to a maximum five sets. On the flip side, Marian dropped seven 3-0 decisions, with four 3-1 losses and three 3-2 setbacks. … With their 15-14 overall record in 2021, Marian sealed its first winning season since the 2003 campaign.
UW-STEVENS POINT POINTERS SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Pointers head into their weekend matches against Milikin, Saint Mary’s, and Concordia (Minn.) sitting at 4-1 overall — the lone blemish a 3-0 loss to No. 15 Northwestern on Sept. 3.
• LAST ACTION: UW-Stevens Point is coming off a pair of impressive wins at the WIAC/MWC Quad on Wednesday, beating Lakeland 3-1, before shutting out St. Norbert 3-0.
• A YEAR AGO: The Pointers came into the season on the heels of a 26-8 showing in 2021, including a 4-3 mark in seven WIAC contests. Despite falling in the semifinals of the WIAC Tournament — beating UW-Platteville (3-0) and falling to UW-Whitewater (3-0) — the Pointers received an NCAA Tournament berth, falling to No. 21 Bethel 3-0 in the opening round. It was UW-Stevens Point’s 10th NCAA Tournament appearance.
• IN THE POLLS: The Pointers head into Saturday’s matches against Saint Mary’s and Marian ranked No. 24 in the latest AVCA Top 25 Poll.
• TOUGH SCHEDULE: Two of UW-Stevens Point’s three matches at the season-opening Northwestern (Minn.) Tournament on Sept. 2-3 came against nationally-ranked teams. UW-SP outlasted No. 20 Bethel 3-2, before falling to No. 15 Northwestern 3-0.
• ON THE ATTACK: Ashley Kopp enters the weekend leading the Pointers with 85 kills — including a season-high 28-kill showing against Lakeland on Wednesday — followed by Katie Larson with 49 and Sydney Mosinski with 38. … Kopp capped a stellar freshman campaign with 13 kills against Bethel in the NCAA Tournament, giving her 501 for the season — becoming just the fourth Pointer in program history to eclipse the 500-kill mark.
• GIVING AN ASSIST: Grace Michalske has been the Pointers’ main setter through five matches, racking up 192 of the team’s 222 assists. Michalske has recorded 30 or more assists in all five UW-Stevens Point matches, including 41 helpers against Coe on Sept. 3, and a season-high 48 vs. Lakeland on Wednesday.
• DOUBLING UP: Kopp has recorded a kill-dig double-double in all five Pointer matches this season, while Michalske owns three assist-dig double-doubles.
• DIGGING IT: Emma Peterson leads the team with 93 digs through five matches, followed by Kopp with 55. Kelsie Belfori (47), Michalske (46), and Katie Albrecht (46) have also amassed 40 or more digs this season.
• SERVING UP ACES: Michalske and Kopp lead the Pointers in aces with nine and eight, respectively. As a team, UW-Stevens Point has delivered 28 aces through five matches.
• SWEEPING UP: Two of UW-Stevens Point’s four wins have been 3-0 sweeps, while the Pointers have also notched one 3-1 victory and one 3-2 triumph. UW-SP’s lone loss was a 3-0 setback.
