The Saint Mary's University volleyball team will be playing host to the nine-team Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic this weekend, Sept. 4-5, at the Gostomski Fieldhouse.

The Field: Saint Mary's, UW-River Falls, St. Thomas, St. Catherine, Viterbo, UW-La Crosse, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Loras and Luther.

Saint Mary's Cardinal Notes: The Cardinals enter this weekend's tournament 0-1, having dropping their season opener 3-1 to Viterbo on Tuesday. … Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) collected a team-best 12 kills in the loss to Viterbo. … Mate was named to the All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference First Team a year ago. Mate appeared in all 11 conference matches for the Cardinals, who finished 5-6 in MIAC play, earning the No. 6 seed in the MIAC Tournament — SMU's first post-season appearance since 2004. Mate's team-   leading 144 kills and .259 attack percentage ranked No. 4 and No. 7, respectively in the MIAC. … The Cardinals' 19 wins in 2008 marked the most since 2004, when SMU went 21-10. SMU's appearance in the semifinals of the 2008 MIAC Tournament was also the Cardinals' first since that same 2004 season. … The Cardinals closed out the season with eight wins in their last 12 matches. … The Cardinals' MIAC tournament semifinal against No. 18 Gustavus was their sixth match against a nationally ranked opponent. … Theresa Perrini closed out her collegiate career with 30 digs vs. Gustavus, giving the senior libero a single-season school-record 721 digs. The 30 digs in SMU's season finale also pushed Perrini's all-time career digs record to 2,183. … Perrini finished the regular season as the conference's dig leader (294). She also led the MIAC in digs-per-set (7.17). … Brittany Cherwinka (Faribault, Minn.) eclipsed the 1,000 assist mark for the first time in her SMU career in 2008, finishing with a team-leading 1,064 assists. Her 1,064 assists rank No. 9 all-time for assists in a season. … Jessica Mate (St. Charles, Ill.) and Sarah Gardner (Rochester, Minn.) were SMU's top offensive threats. Mate led the team in kills (328) and kills-per-set (2.88), while Gardner was second in kills (319), and first in total attempts (1,063). … SMU opened the season with a six-match winning streak, equaling the longest season-opeing win streak in the program's history. … Thirteen of SMU's 19 wins came on the road. The Cardinals were 6-4 on their home court. … Ten of SMU's 19 wins were 3-1 decisions, while eight of the Cardinals' 13 losses were by 3-0 scores.

UW-River Falls Falcon Notes: The Falcons return all six starters from last year's team including All-WIAC performers Kelsey Scheele (OH) and Gina DeRosa (MH). …  Kelsey Scheele earned honorable mention to the 2008 AVCA All-America team. She led the Falcons in kills (456), services aces (44) and digs (528). She had four solo and 45 block assists. She hit the career 1,000 kill milestone in a match against St. Ambrose on Oct. 31, 2008. … Fifteen of the team's 18 players (.833) from the 2008 season were named to the WIAC's Scholastic Honor Roll. … There are 22 players on the 2009 roster and 19 of the student-athletes are from Minnesota. The other three are from Wisconsin. …  There are 13 freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and three seniors on the 2009 roster. … Falcon Coach Patti Ford won her 400th career match in 2008. She enters the 2009 season with a 417-219 career record. She is in her 18th season at UWRF.

UW-La Crosse Eagle Notes: UW-L was picked to finish fourth in the preseason WIAC rankings. … The Eagles play their first 11 matches of the season on the road and just two of their first 22 matches are on their home court. … UW-L has its final eight regular-season matches at home ... UW-L's 28 wins last year were the most since 2004 (31) ... Senior Brianne Stankus was named to the 2008 AVCA All-America First Team. She became the second player (Sue Ketter) to earn two career All-America honors, Stankus was a 2007 honorable mention choice. … Stankus enters the season ranked fourth in school history in kills, fifth in attempts, eighth in hititng and ninth in digs. … Junior Melannie Tate was the only player to appear in all 148 sets last season. She led the team with 641 digs last year, second in single-season school history. … Sophomore Liz Schlobohm had a team-high 9.65 assists last season.

St. Thomas Tommie Notes: Last year's Tommies lost their first and last match of the season, both to UW-LaCrosse (five sets, four sets) but won 28 of 29 matches in between. The 28-3 record and .903 winning percentage ranked them near the top in all divisions of college volleyball. …Three key contributors from last year's Tommie team graduated -- two-time All-American Katie McCaffrey (Career: 1,200 kills, 500 blocks, .340 attack percentage); starting libero Katie Kremer (2,555 career digs), and hitter DeJurnett Prioleau. The lone senior on this year's team will be Kyley Crotty. … UST is ranked 10th in the 2009 Division III preseason poll by the American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA). … UST has made its mark on the national and conference scene in coach Thanh Pham's first six seasons. Pham's .791 winning percentage (159-42 record) ranks fifth nationally among active Division III coaches. Over the last four seasons, St. Thomas has the eighth-best won-loss record out of 350-plus teams in Division III. The Toms' 115-22 record since 2005 includes a 50-5 record vs. MIAC opponents. The Toms bring a 28-match MIAC win streak into 2009 but will be pushed in their title defense. … Pham returns 16 players from his varsity and JV teams, led by junior All-America setter Emily Foster (Career: 64 matches/235 sets, 2,838 assists). The Tommies are 56-8 in her two seasons as starting setter. Three hitters who had more than 200 kills last season return in Crotty, Carlie Waibel and Alesha Nelson.

MSOE Raider Notes: The Raiders opened their season on Tuesday, dropping a pair of 3-1 decisions to Ripon and Carroll. … MSOE is coming off a 15-14 season a year ago, which included a 7-5 showing and fifth-place finish in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC). … The Raiders will be without graduated senior Allie Sowinski, a first-team All-NAC performer and the school's career leader in kills and service aces. … Jackie Bertram started 25 of the Raiders' 29 matches a year ago, averaging 1.07 kills-per-set, while also posting nearly a block a set. … Haley McEnerney also started 25 of the team's 25 matches in 2008 and returns as the team's assist leader with 6.37 assists-per-set.

St. Catherine Wildcat Notes: The Wildcats are coming off back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2007 and 2008, marking the first time CSC has reached double-digits in wins in consecutive seasons since the 1993 and 1994 seasons. … Maria Hoffman starts the year 132 kills away from reaching 1,000 for her career. … Megan Ahlbrecht set the school's single-season record for kills (340) last year. … Nina Lindquist joins the team after being a four-time state tournament participant, and will be the first new setter in four years for the Wildcats. … Callie Teigen finished fifth in the conference in service aces last year as a freshman.

Luther Knight Notes: Luther enters the weeknd with a record of 2-0 following victories over Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes St. Catherine (3-2) and Macalester (3-1) on Tuesday. … Head coach Jane Gibbs returns nine letterwinners, including five starters, from a squad that posted its first winning season in six years, posting an overall record of 19-15 last season. … The Norse were picked to finish 4th in the Iowa Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll. … Emily Cory and Taylor Skoglund return after posting honorable-mention all-conference performances as freshmen last season. Cory, who appeared in all 127 sets a year ago, finished her first collegiate season with a team-leading 435 kills (3.43 kills-per-set), while also adding 49 blocks. Skoglund, meanwhile, boasted 289 kills (2.37 kps), added 70 digs and finished with 51 blocks. … Molly Morrisey returns after collecting 924 assists a year ago.

Loras Duhawk Notes: Loras won its first Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) volleyball championship and made its first NCAA Division III National Tournament appearance in 2008, losing to Concordia-Moorhead 3-2 in the first round. … Teresa Kehe was named IIAC Coach of the Year after leading the Duhawks to a 32-5 season. … Coach Kehe will be entering her 4th season as the Duhawks coach; her current record stands at 65-41. … The Duhawks will miss IIAC Conference MVP, and All-American, Jenny Dziubla along with three other all-conference performers this season. … Loras will look for Julianne Lord, Natalie Roling, Danielle Lewis, and Michelle Bahl to pick up for the departed players as the returning mainstays from last season's team.

Viterbo V-Hawk Notes: The V-Hawks got their season off on the right foot, picking up back-to-back 3-0 wins over Robert Morris and Judson College, splitting their four games at the UM-Dearborn Invitational, then knocking off Saint Mary's 3-1 on Tuesday. … Two of Viterbo's four matches at the UM-Dearborn Tournament last weekend were decided in five sets — a 3-2 loss to Trinity International and a 3-2 win over Northwestern (Ohio). Viterbo also added its third 3-0 win of the season with its sweep of Calumet College of St. Joseph. … The V-Hawks, who play 14 of their first 16 matches on the road — including four matches at SMU's Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic this weekend. … Amy Braaksma has collected a team-leading 80 kills and is hitting .294 in the V-Hawks' first seven matches. … Amanda Bennett has dished out a team-best 167 assists, with Stacie Hoffman adding 105 assists. … Bennett has also accounted for 12 of the team's 36 service aces, while Heather Harelstad boasts a team-high 95 digs.