WINONA, Minn. - Wednesday night, the Cardinals hosted conference opponent College of Saint Benedict, and despite a valiant effort, the Cardinals fell in three sets.
 
The first set started with back-to-back kills from Kali Olson and Paige Klug, and following two more kills from Olson and one from Alison Wu, the Cardinals would go up 6-1.
 
Olson would continue her dominance with two more kills that would bring the score to 9-3. A couple rallies later, a service ace from Kinlee Grattan would bring the set score up to 11-6 and that would be followed up by a kill from Brenna Bruchert to make it 12-6. 
 
As the set continued, the Cardinals would keep the lead, reaching 20 points first with a score of 20-17. However, after the Bennies tied the game 23-23, they would go on to take the first set from the Cardinals. Of the 15 kills in the first set, Olson accounted for six of them.
 
In the beginning of the second set, the Bennies got out to a hot start, taking a 5-0 lead. However on the next rally Paige Klug would spike the ball down and the streak, making it 5-1. The Cardinals would begin to turn it around and catch up to the Bennies, with a Bruchert service ace to put them up 10-11.
 
However the Bennies would steal the momentum right back and beat the Cardinals to 20, with the score being 20-17. Soon the Bennies would reach 24 points whilst Saint Mary's would only have 20. Despite their efforts, the Cardinals couldn't hold off Saint Benedict, losing the second set.
 
The third set was off to a much better start for the Cardinals, with kills from Olson and Klug followed by a Lindsey Rossow service ace to make the score 3-0. This three point gap would persist until the Bennies tied the set 6-6. After that, the Bennies would continue to keep a one to two point gap on the Cardinals, not budging.
 
However the Cardinals wouldn't back down and would tie the set 17-17 and keep their hopes of getting to a set four alive. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Saint Benedict wasn't going to take their foot off the gas, quickly reaching 20 points with a score of 20-18. The Cardinals would push back with a score from Klug to make it 22-20 with Benedict still in the lead. The Bennies would however go on to score three unanswered points and ultimately win the game.
 
Olson led the team in kills with 13, Klug with seven, and Bruchert and Wu with five. Bruchert led the team in service aces with 2. Rossow dug the ball up 18 times, leading the team. Finally Devann Clemens led the team in assists with 21.
 
The Cardinals will wrap their season up with their final home game on Saturday November 9th against the visiting Macalester College Scots. Saturday the team will honor their senior for senior night!