RIPON, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team entered the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational riding high, having dispatched of St. Catherine in three quick sets to open their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule on Wednesday.
 
And the Cardinals kept the pedal to the metal in their first two tournament matches on Friday.
 
Saint Mary's cruised to a 3-1 win over St. Norbert in the opener, before following that up with a 3-0 victory over UW-River Falls in their second match of the day.
 
Saint Mary's and St. Norbert split the first two sets—the Cardinals winning 25-21 in the opener, while SNC won Set 2 25-23—but Saint Mary's took control from there, winning Sets 3 and 4 in convincing fashion, 25-14 and 25-18 to seal the victory.
 
In match No. 2, the Cardinals took the lead from the outset and never looked back, rolling to a 25-13, 25-14, 25-19 three-set win.
 
Lex Krogstad (Chicago, Ill.) enjoyed a career day against the Green Knights, equaling her career high for digs with 36, while also adding six assists and one service ace. Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Cassidy Bittle (Winona, Minn.) fueled the Cardinals' offensive attack vs. the Green Knights in their first match of the day, recording 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Jenna Sullivan (Woodbury, Minn.) and Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn.) each added nine kills. Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) eclipsed the 20-assist plateau for the seventh straight match, dishing out 21 helpers, with fellow setter Tayler MacVey (Dodge Center, Minn.) adding 18 assists.
 
Against UW-River Falls, Sullivan led the Cardinal charge with eight kills, while Krogstad finished with 20 digs, and Hanson and MacVey chipped in 15 and 13 assists, respectively.
 
The Cardinals (9-2 overall) close out the Ripon Red Hawk Invitational on Saturday, squaring off against St. Catherin at 10 a.m. and host Ripon at 2 p.m.