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Cardinal Roster
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Cardinal Statistics
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Cardinal Schedule
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MIAC Standings
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MIAC Statistics
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National Polls
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| 2005 Record: 3-7 MIAC, 10-14 Overall |
| Last Week's Results: Saint Mary's 3, St. Olaf 2 / Details Carleton 3, Saint Mary's 1 / Details |
| Upcoming Events:: Wed., Oct. 26: SMU at Gustavus, 7 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Oct. 28-29: SMU at UW-Whitewater Invitational |
| This and That: The Cardinals' loss to Carleton on Friday snapped their two-match winning streak. … SMU's 3-1 loss to the 13th-ranked Knights also dropped their record to 0-5 vs. nationally ranked teams. … Carolyn Kiefer (New London, Wis.) dished out a career-best 63 assists in SMU's win over St. Olaf last Wednesday. … Kiefer’s 63 assists were also the second time this season the SMU freshman has recorded 60 or more assists in a match. … The Cardinals’ 74 kills vs. the Oles — including 21 from Megan Roesler (St. Paul, Minn.) and 20 from Lisa Engdahl (North Branch, Minn.) — were a season high. … Engdahl has now posted 20 or more kills five times this season and leads the team with a career-high 320 kills. … Roesler continues to lead the team in attack percentage (.247), and blocks (78), while Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa) boasts a team-best 38 aces. … After losing their first three five-game matches, SMU has gone 3-1 in its last four five-gamers. … Friday's match vs. Carleton was the final home match for SMU seniors Engdahl, Amy Benz (Oshkosh, Wis.), Desiree Larson (Blaine, Minn.) and Beth Schubert (Naperville, Ill.). |
end to SMU's post-season playoff hopes with 3-1 win
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Who's Hot?
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Megan
Roesler 30 kills, 5 blks in 2 matches last week |
And the Knights promptly escorted Slim out of the SMU Gym, getting 19 kills from Alivia Bryan and 16 from Danielle Hargreaves in handing the Cardinals a 3-1 (30-18, 30-19, 29-31, 30-14) setback.
"You have to give Carleton a lot of credit — they are a very, very good team," said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team dropped to 3-7 in the MIAC and 10-14 overall with the loss. "They are solid from top to bottom. The showed tonight that they deserved to be ranked in No. 13 (in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll).
"I don't think the final score is really an indication of the way the match went," continued Lester, whose team had won five of its last seven — including back-to-back MIAC wins over Augsburg and St. Olaf — prior to facing the Knights. "We had stretches where were didn't play all that well, but we also had stretches where we played exceptionally well."
Like Game 3.
After struggling to keep up in losing Games 1 and 2, the Cardinals led from start to finish in the third game, hitting .273 as a team and getting five kills from Amy Benz (Oshkosh, Wis.) and four from Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa).
"That third game was as good as we've played all season," said Lester, whose Cardinals led by as many as four, 22-18, and broke a 29-29 tie with two straight points — the last on a kill by Megan Roesler (St. Paul, Minn.) to force a fourth game. "That game really said a lot about the make up of this team. They could have easily given up after the way things went in those first two games, but they didn't — they hung in there and battled right to the end."
The Knights weren't about to let the Cardinals — and Slim – hang around much longer, however, as Carleton jumped out to a 10-6 lead to open the fourth game and never looked back in winning for the sixth straight time.
"It's tough to lose a match like that — especially on Senior Night — but the ladies gave it everything they had," said Lester, noting that Benz, Lisa Engdahl (North Branch, Minn.), Beth Schubert (Naperville, Ill.), Rachel Rivers (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Desiree Larson (Blaine, Minn.) played in front of their home fans for the last time in their collegiate careers Friday. "They certainly don't have anything to hang their heads about."