THE MATCHUP

Saint Mary's vs. Bethel vs. Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 SMU Gym 7:30 p.m.

GAMEDAY PLAYER PROFILE

Lisa Engdahl Year Junior Position Outside Hitter Hometown No. Branch, MN

For the official GameDay Program for today's game pdf / click here (pdf)

WINONA, Minn. — Last weekend, the Saint Mary’s University volleyball team traveled to Macalester to take part in the IIAC-MIAC Border Battle, a tournament in which four of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s best took on four of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s best.

And the Cardinals certainly held their own, posting an impressive 3-1 record in their four matches — with their lone loss a 3-2 decision to eighth-ranked Central in their tournament opener.

Wednesday evening, the Cardinals returned to the scene of the Border Battle — and picked up where they left off.

Only this time, the stakes were a bit higher.

Led by Ashley Dingels (Gibbon, Minn.) and Megan Roesler (St. Paul, Minn.), SMU ran its MIAC record to 5-2 — and stayed in the regular-season MIAC title chase — with a 3-2 (23-30, 30-20, 30-23, 28-30, 15-11) win over Macalester.

Rouzer collected a team-high 18 kills and added 11 blocks, while Roesler chipped in 17 kills and five blocks as SMU won its fourth straight and fifth in its last six. Kirstan Rouzer (Comstock, Wis.) knocked down 14 kills and picked up 30 digs, with Tessa Stranik (Eatonville, Wash.) dishing out 61 assists.

“That was a big, big win for us in terms of conference positioning,” said SMU coach Mike Lester, noting that the win gives the Cardinals a two-game cushion on the Scots as teams begin jockeying for MIAC post-season tournament positions. “We knew going in that this match was going to be a dogfight — we knew it was one of those matches that could go either way, and we were fortunate enough to get the job done.”

And with that job complete, the Cardinals can turn their attention to this weekend, when SMU plays host to Bethel (tonight) and Augsburg (Saturday) in a pair of key conference matchups.

“This is a tough stretch for us,” Lester said. “We had four big matches last weekend (at the Border Battle) and now we’ve got three key conference matches right in a row. The win over Macalester really helps keep us in a positive state of mind heading into the weekend.”