ST. PETER, Minn. — Dropping a 3-0 decision to Gustavus in the team's regular-season finale was a tough pill to swallow for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team.
 
Thanks to their 3-0 win over Concordia in Tuesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff match at the Saint Mary's Gym, however, the Cardinals got another shot at the conference's regular-season champions.
 
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, the second go-around with the Gusties looked eerily similar to the first.
 
And that was not good news for the Cardinals and their coach Mike Lester.
 
Gustavus—which completed a perfect run through the conference's regular-season schedule to secure the No. 1 seed—scored 12 of the match's first 13 points and never looked back in handing the Cardinals a 3-0 setback in the MIAC Playoff semifinal Thursday evening at Gus Young Court.
 
The Gusties dominated the opening set, grabbing an 11-1 lead and holding Saint Mary's to just 11 total points in cruising to a 25-11 victory.
 
The Cardinals did not fare any better in the second set, surrendering the first three points and trailing by as nine, 19-10. Saint Mary's mounted a late comeback, closing the gap to four, but it was too little, too late, as Gustavus pushed its lead to 2-0 with a 25-20 win.
 
The quick-starting Gusties were at it again in the third set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead, before Saint Mary's gained a little momentum—scoring seven of the next 10 points to grab its first lead of the evening, 8-7.
 
That momentum quickly shifted, however, as Gustavus regained the lead with back-to-back points—and never looked back in completing the 3-0 sweep with a 25-18 victory in the third and final set.
 
Alex Peterson (Harmony, Minn.) and Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.)—both playing their final matches in a Cardinal uniform—led the way for Saint Mary's with six kills each, while Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn.) chipped in five. Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.)—another graduating senior—dished out 11 assists and recorded 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.
 
Kelle Nett recorded a match-high 10 kills, one more than Taylor Trautman, while Nora Holtan tallied 29 assists for the Gusties—who will host the winner of the Saint Benedict/Bethel match in Saturday's MIAC Playoff championship game at 7 p.m.
 
The Cardinals—who finished tied for third in the final regular-season standing with an 8-3 record en route to earning its third consecutive MIAC Playoff berth—closed out the season at 20-10 overall, marking the third straight season, and eighth time under Lester, that Saint Mary's has reached the 20-win plateau.