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Saint Mary's Cardinals
3-7 MIAC / 17-11 Overall
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Gustavus Gusties
5-5 MIAC / 17-8 Overall |
Last Action: The Cardinals opened their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Carleton with a 30-23 victory, but the No. 21-ranked Knights rattled off wins in the next three games in handing SMU a
3-1 setback Wednesday. … Gustavus, meanwhile, kept its MIAC playoff hopes alive with a 3-1 victory over Macalester Wednesday.
Last Meeting: Last year's regular-season meeting was a collegiate remake of the childhood story of the tortoise and the hare. The Cardinals, aka The Hare, got out of the gates like they were shot out of a cannon, racing to a 30-26 win in the opening game of their final match of the season. The Gusties, aka The Tortoise, however, used the slow, methodical approach en route to wins in Game 2 (30-21), Game 3 (30-26) and Game 4 (30-24), as Gustavus handed SMU a
3-1 setback at the SMU Gym..
Cardinal Notes: Wednesday's match vs. Carleton was the 16th match decided in four games — the Cardinals are 11-5 in those 16 matches. … Last Friday's 3-2 loss to Augsburg, meanwhile, was just the second match this season that SMU has been stretched to the maximum five games — and the Cardinals are winless in those two matches. … The Cardinals have won the first game in 18 of their 28 matches — including Game 1 wins in their last eight straight matches. … SMU is still in the hunt for one of the MIAC's eight spots in the 2008 MIAC-IIAC Border Battle. SMU must beat Gustavus and have Augsburg lose to St. Thomas and St. Olaf fall to Carleton. With that scenario, SMU, Augsburg and St. Olaf would all be tied, and the second tiebreaker (the first is record vs. tied teams and all three are 1-1) is game record against tied teams, where the Cardinals are 5-4, while Augsburg is 5-5 and St. Olaf is 4-5. …
Theresa Perrini (Fairway, Kan.), already the Cardinals' single-season dig leader with 667, ranks No. 7 in NCAA Division III in digs-per-game at 7.01. … Perrini now boasts 1,448 digs in her three-year career, ranking her No. 3 all-time — behind Leslie Nicholls (1,463) and Kirsten Rouzer (1,501).
Rachel Monterastelli (Wonder Lake, Ill.), who ranked No. 8 in SMU history with 1,146 assists this season, is sitting at No. 36 in the nation with 11.53 assists-per-game. … Monterastelli dished out 50 assists vs. Carleton Wednesday, marking the second straight match — and the 11th time this season — that the SMU freshman has posted 50 or more assists. … With her 11 kills vs. Carleton,
Alex Nold (Spring Valley, Minn.) climbed over the 300-kill mark (307) and is one of four SMU players with 200 or more kills.
Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn. / 276 kills), Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill. / 274 kills), and #Racquel Reker
(Mantorville, Minn. / 213 kills) are the other three. … SMU boasts six players with at least 100 kills.
Gustie Notes: With their 3-1 win over Macalester Wednesday, the Gusties became the first volleyball program in MIAC history to reach 750 victories. … Gustavus is now 750-528-11 in the program's history. … Meghan Gehring and Andrea Kron each knocked down 15 kills to pace GAC vs. Macalester. … Wednesday's win vs. the Scots was Gustavus' second straight. … Five of GAC's eight losses have come in conference play — including a three-match run in which the Gusties lost to St. Thomas (3-0), Bethel (3-0) and Carleton (3-2). … Gustavus entered the weekend tied with Hamline for the sixth and final MIAC playoff spot. The Gusties must win and have Hamline lose its final regular-season match vs. Macalester (0-10 in MIAC play). If the two teams remain tied, the Pipers get the playoff berth — thanks to a 3-2 win vs. GAC on Oct. 12. … Jennifer Thelemann has been the Gusties' offensive leader this season, collecting team-highs in kills (382) and kills-per-game (4.20). Thelemann is also one of five GAC players with 100 or more kills, including Meghan Gehring, who is one kill short of joining the 300-kill club. … Bridget Burtzel has dished out a team-leading 1,046 assists, while Emily Klein owns a team-best 574 digs.