WINONA, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota volleyball team's four graduating seniors, Wednesday's nonconference match against UW-La Crosse was the final time they would play in front of their home crowd in a regular-season contest.
 
And the Cardinal quartet—Sara Lind (Peterson, Minn.), Brittney Hanson (Janesville, Iowa), Clare Tack (St. Charles, Ill.), and Tara Nagy (Oak Lawn, Ill.)—were determined to write a memorable final chapter to their home collegiate careers.
 
UW-La Crosse, however, refused to follow the script.
 
The Cardinals bounced back from an opening-set, 25-22 loss with back-to-back victories—25-22, 26-24—but the Eagles rained on their Senior Day parade, outlasting Saint Mary's 25-22 in the fourth set and building a huge lead in cruising to a 15-7 fifth set win to deal SMU a 3-2 setback.
 
Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) collected her team-leading 10^th double-double of the season to pace the Cardinal offense, racking up 11 kills and adding a team-high 19 digs. Rachel Kedl (Lamberton, Minn.) chipped in 10 kills, with Erin Lime (Lino Lakes, Minn.) and Bailey Joens (Osage, Iowa) adding nine and eight kills, respectively.
 
Lillian Braun (Kasson, Minn.) picked up a double-double of her own with 22 assists and 17 digs, while Hanson dished out 19 assists and Tack matched Braun with 17 digs.
 
Stephanie Henk and Marisa Johnson were a potent 1-2 punch for UW-La Crosse (17-6 overall), hammering out 21 and 17 kills, respectively, with Maddie Entinger recording 54 of the team's 58 assists.
 
The Cardinals (14-10 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a pair of matches in St. Paul, Minn., this weekend. Saint Mary's will head to Hamline for a 7 p.m. matchup on Friday, before heading across town to take on 18^th-ranked St. Thomas at 3 p.m. the following day.