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2003 Record: 1-0 MIAC / 12-3 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: Sept. 17: Saint Mary's 3, St. Catherine 0 Sept. 18: Saint Mary's 3, Luther 0 |
| This Week's Events: Wed., Sept. 24: at Hamline, 7:30 p.m. Fri., Sept. 26: vs. Concordia, 7:30 p.m. Sat., Sept. 27: vs. St. Benedict, 3 p.m. |
| This and That: With their two wins last week, the Cardinals have now won three straight and 12 of their last 13. … Since opening the season with two five-game losses, SMU has gone 12-1. … Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) collected a team-high 28 kills and 20 digs in SMU's two wins last week, while Tessa Stranik (Eatonville, Wash.) added 79 assists and Tracy Koertgen (Crystal Lake, Ill.) finished with eight aces. … The last five matches SMU has played have all been decided by a 3-0 score. … The Cardinals are 7-1 in three-game matches, 3-0 in four-game matches, and 2-2 in five-gamers. |
WINONA, Minn. — They were coming off an impressive 3-0 win the night before in their conference opener. … It was a nonconference game against an opponent they had already manhandled 3-0 earlier this year … They had won 11 of their last 12 matches, while their opponent was looking for just its third win in seven matches.
Last Thursday's match against Luther had all the warning signs of an ill-timed mental letdown for the Saint Mary's University volleyball team.
Yet, while the Cardinals may have stepped out of conference play to take on the Norse, they certainly didn't miss a beat, getting a match-high 12 kills from Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) en route to a 30-14, 30-26, 30-26 win.
"I was a little nervous going into the match, because this was our first real road trip, where you get on a bus, play one match and come home," said SMU coach Mike Lester. "We've played on the road (in tournament's in Colorado and Iowa), but in those, you get on the bus, check into a hotel, play two matches, go back to your hotel, and do it all over again the next day.
"So this was the first time we were on the road for a single game."
And the jet lag — no, make that bus lag — showed early, as SMU found itself staring at a 9-4 hole in the first game against the Nose.
"It wasn't quite the start I was hoping for, but nobody panicked, and we just regained our focus and played like we were capable of playing,' explained Lester, whose team scored 27 of the game's next 32 points en route to the 30-14 win.
"Overall, I was pleased with our performance all week," continued Lester, whose team opened its MIAC season with a 3-0 win over St. Catherine last Wednesday. "I'm very happy with where we are right now. To be 12-3 is nice — especially when you consider that two of those losses went five games against two nationally ranked teams on the first day of the season.
"We are really starting to gel as a team — everyone seems pretty relaxed and comfortable, which is a good sign."
Good for Lester and the Cardinals, but bad for the rest of the MIAC.