Match Summary vs. Saint Benedict /
GameDay Online
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — It took four years for the Saint Mary’s University volleyball team to get back into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
And the Cardinals weren’t in any mood to make an early exit.
Led by the play of
Jessica Larson (Pine Island, Minn.), the Cardinals — who snuck into the conference tournament as the sixth seed — knocked off third-seeded Saint Benedict 3-2 (13-25, 25-23, 26-24, 19-25, 15-13) Tuesday evening.
“It was just an unbelievable match,” said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team improved to 19-12 overall — and earned a spot opposite top-seeded Gustavus on Thursday. “Just by looking at the scores, it’s obvious this match could have gone either way — but to be honest, I felt we were the better team tonight.”
Thanks in large part to the play of Larson.
The Cardinal junior middle hitter collected a match-high 15 kills and hit .289 in leading SMU to its second straight win and eighth victory in its last 11 matches.
“Jess had a great match — a career match,” Lester said of Larson, who had managed 10 kills or more just once this season — a 10-kill effort vs. Loras on Sept. 6. “She was the spark for us tonight. Everyone played well, but I think they also fed off of the play of Jess.
“We wanted another shot at Saint Benedict,” continued Lester, whose team dropped a 3-0 decision to the Blazers during the regular season — but were forced to play without starters
Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) and
Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.). “We knew we were better than we showed in that first match, and tonight, we were at full strength — and everyone stepped up huge.”
Kujak made her presence known this time around, banging out 10 kills, two aces and five blocks, while Cherwinka was equally as visible, dishing out 40 assists. Therese Perrini
(Fairway, Kan.) finished with 29 digs to break her own single-season dig record of 690 by one dig. The 29 digs also pushed the senior libero’s career digs record to 2,153 digs.
“Everyone was so excited to get into the (MIAC) tournament, but to a person, no one was satisfied with just getting here,” said Lester. “We knew if we played up to our abilities, we could play with — and beat — (Saint Benedict).
“It was a great match from start to finish and, fortunately, we were able to come out on top.”