WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball coach Mike Lester may have had to bite a few more fingernails in the Cardinals' second match of the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, but in the end, it was the same result.
 
The Cardinals, coming off a convincing 3-0 sweep of Finlandia in their first match of the afternoon, had to work a bit harder against opponent No. 2, St. Norbert.
 
Fueled by 12 digs from Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) and 15 digs from Morgan Thomas (Palos Park, Ill.), Saint Mary's made it a clean Day 1 sweep, however, as the Cardinals collected their second straight 3-0 victory.
 
"It was a good first day for us," said Lester. "We've been able to play a lot of different people—which is always important at this time of the year—and I've been pleased with what I've seen thus far."
 
The Cardinals rallied late to win the first set against St. Norbert, eventually claiming a 25-23 victory. Set 2 proved to be another nail-biter for Lester and the Cardinals, but again Saint Mary's prevailed, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to a 25-22 win in the middle set. Saint Mary's iced the win with a convincing 25-19 victory in the third and final set to head into Saturday's second day of the two-day tournament with an unblemished 2-0 record.
 
Along with Blattner's match-high 12 kills, the Cardinals also got seven kills and a team-best .462 attack percentage from Lexi Barth (Byron, Minn.), while Hayley Weber (Gladbrook, Iowa) and Molly Urban (Roseville, Minn.) chipped in six and five kills, respectively. Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) led the team in assists with 16, while Thomas added three service aces to her team-best 15 digs.
 
The Cardinals (2-0 overall) are back in action on Saturday, squaring off against Carroll at noon, before closing out tournament play with a 4 p.m. match against Luther.