WINONA, Minn. – The Saint Mary's University volleyball team, coming off a huge 3-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over 16th-ranked Saint Benedict at home on Thursday, plays host to its second straight nationally ranked opponent Saturday, entertaining No. 19 Concordia Saturday at 3 p.m. at the SMU Gym.

Records:

Last Action: The Cardinals scored the last three points of the fifth and deciding set to outlast Saint Benedict 3-2 Thursday evening at the SMU Gym. … Concordia, meanwhile, also went five sets in its last match, as the Cobbers held on to beat Carleton 3-2 on Friday.

Last Meeting: October 4, 2008: Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) collected a match-high 16 kills, while hitting .395 with 12 digs, but it was not enough, as the 15th-ranked Cobbers held off the Cardinals 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) in Winona, Minn.

Cardinal Notes: Thursday's win over Saint Benedict was the Cardinals' second straight win vs. the nationally ranked Blazers. SMU had defeated CSB in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament a year ago. … The 3-2 victory also extended SMU's winning streak to seven straight — one shy of the season-high eight-match winning streak the Cardinals put together earlier this season. SMU has also won nine of its last 10 games, with a 3-0 loss to No. 10 St. Thomas on Sept. 23. … With Thursday's victory, the Cardinals improved to 4-1 in five-set matches. … Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) recorded a season-high 19 kills to lead a trio of Cardinals with 10 or more kills vs. Saint Benedict. Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) and Amy Kujak (River Falls, Wis.) chipped in 17 and 16 kills, respectively. … Mate also hit a season-best .417 vs. CSB and Gardner equaled her season high with five aces. … With her 17 kills Thursday, Gardner pushed her team-leading total to 246. She is one of four Cardinals with 200 or more kills. Mate (212), Kujak (204) and Courtney Runge (St. James, Minn. / 202) are the other three. … Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) dished out a career-best 61 assists vs. the Blazers. … Tara Rasmussen (Kasson, Minn.) finished with a team-best 22 digs vs. CSB, giving the SMU freshman 10 or more digs in 18 of the team's 22 matches. The SMU freshman has also now eclipsed the 20-dig plateau eight times — including a career-best 27 digs twice. … With their 4-0 showing at the MIAC-IIAC Border Battle last weekend, the Cardinals finished 14-2 in tournament play this year – sweeping through the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, the Wartburg Tournament and the Border Battle, while going 2-2 at the Simpson Tournament. … The Cardinals enter today's match ranked 17th in NCAA Division III in assists-per-set (11.66), 21st in kills-per-set (12.74), and 30th in attack percentage (.244).

Concordia Cobber Notes: Katie Vohnoutka and Jenna Green each collected 14 kills to lead the Cobbers vs. Carleton Friday night. … Amy Sykora, meanwhile, dished out 51 assists and Greta Wood collected 18 digs. … Friday's match marked just the sixth time Concordia has lost the opening set in a match, and the first time this season the Cobbers have won a match when losing the first set. … Three of the Cobbers' five losses have come against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 25 — Ohio Northern (L, 3-0), UW-Whitewater (L, 3-1) and Washington (Mo.) University (L, 3-0). … Last Friday's 3-1 loss to Simpson in the opening match of the Border Battle marked just the second time in the five-year history of the tournament that the Cobbers lost. Concordia rebounded with three straight tournament wins — all by 3-0 scores. … The Cobbers are looking for their seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance and have been ranked in the top 25 of the nation for over 53 consecutive weeks. Both streaks are currently the longest in the MIAC.