ST. PAUL, Minn. — New weekend, new tournament—same old results.
 
And that's a good thing for Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball coach Mike Lester.
 
Lester's Cardinals, who kicked off the season with four straight wins at the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic last weekend, put together four more victories this weekend. Saint Mary's, 3-0 and 3-1 winners over Luther and Central-Iowa on Friday, completed their second consecutive 4-0 tournament appearance with wins over Crown and Nebraska Wesleyan during Saturday's final day of the St. Catherine Invitational.
 
Saint Mary's had little trouble dispatching of Crown in its opening match of the day—winning 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-12)—but things were much more difficult in their second match, as the Cardinals rallied from a 12-10 deficit in the final set to pull out a 3-2 (26-24, 27-29, 26-24, 22-25, 15-12) victory.
 
"The team showed a ton of heart today and all tournament long," said Lester, whose team improved to 8-1 overall with their four victories. "To come back from down 12-10 in the fifth set (against Nebraska Wesleyan) was really impressive—it was a great way to cap a great weekend for us."
 
The Cardinals flexed their muscles—and displayed their depth—against Crown in their opener Saturday. As a team, the Cardinals—who had eight players record at least one kill in the three-set match—hit .333, and got a season-high 10 kills from both Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) and Tara Nagy (Oak Lawn, Ill.), while Maddie Hess (Lewiston, Minn.) and Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) dished out 16 and 13 assists, respectively, and Hailey Nisbit (Utica, Minn.) was the team's dig leader with six.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.)—coming off a 29-kill performance against Central-Iowa on Friday, led the way for the Cardinals against NWU, finishing with 22 kills. Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.) and Clare Tack (St. Charles, Ill.) each record 26 digs, and Lillian Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) and Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa) delivered 24 and 19 assists, respectively.
 
The Cardinals are right back on the road—and right back at St. Catherine's Butler Center in St. Paul, Minn.—as Saint Mary's kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7 p.m. showdown against the Wildcats.