WINONA, Minn. — After six straight road matches, the Saint Mary's University volleyball team finally got the opportunity to strut its stuff in front of the home crowd Tuesday evening, as the Cardinals welcomed nationally ranked Augsburg to the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Augsburg, however, decided to play the role of the ungracious guest, and threw a monkey wrench in the Cardinals' homecoming parade.
 
The Auggies, who climbed to No. 24 in the latest AVCA Top 25 Poll — thanks to their 7-1 start to the season — grabbed the momentum early on in the first set, and never took their foot off the accelerator in dealing the Cardinals a 3-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening setback.
 
Augsburg rattled off five of the first six points in the opening set, before building leads as big as 10, 17-7 en route to a 25-17 victory. Leading 5-4 early in the second set, Augsburg would tally 20 of the next 27 points in rolling to a 25-11 victory and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five contest.
 
Saint Mary's had the upper hand early in the third set, pushing its lead to as many as four, 11-7, only to have Augsburg rattle off six unanswered points for a 13-11 lead. And once the Auggies got in front, they were impossible to catch, securing the sweep with a 25-20 win.
 
Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.) and Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals with seven kills each, while Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.) and Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.) shared the setting duties, tallying 10 and eight assists, respectively, and Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) chipped in 12 digs.
 
The Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 4-3 overall) are back in action this weekend, heading to Dubuque, Iowa, to take part in the Loras Invitational. Saint Mary's will face Buena Vista and Webster on Friday, before closing out the two-day tournament with matches against Knox and Grinnell on Saturday.