WINONA, Minn. — With four Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matches remaining in the regular season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team began its playoff push Friday evening against Bethel.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Royals decided to push back—hard.
 
After dropping the opening set, Bethel rattled off three straight set wins in handing the Cardinals a 3-1 setback at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
The Cardinals showed off a little come-from-behind magic in the opening set, rallying from 24-20 deficit—and fighting off a pair of set points at 25-24 and 26-25—to beat the Royals 28-26.
 
Saint Mary's faced similar deficits in the final three sets, but were not able to pull another more victories out of their magic hat, as Bethel posted wins of 25-18, 25-20, and 25-21 to seal the victory.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) continued to dominate on the offensive end, as the sophomore outside set a single-match school record in the rally scoring era  with 31 kills, while also adding 13 digs and a .339 attack percentage. Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) and Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) dished out 28 and 26 assists, respectively, with Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.) leading three players in double figures in digs with 19. Hanson joined Blattner in the double-double category, adding 10 digs to her 26 assists.
 
Carlee Hoppe and Callie Sinclair delivered 14 and 10 kills, respectively, for the Royals, with Holly Ellwanger and Katie Lubban each posting 22 assists.
 
The Cardinals (5-3 MIAC, 21-4 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, hosting Macalester in a 3 p.m. conference match at the Saint Mary's Gym.