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| 2006 Records: 2-5 MIAC, 6-11 Overall |
| Recent Results: Saint Mary's 3, St. Catherine 0 / Details Saint Mary's 3, Hamline 2 / Details St. Thomas 3, Saint Mary's 0 / Details |
| Upcoming Events: Wed., Oct. 4: Saint Mary's at Carleton, 7 p.m. |
| Cardinal News and Notes: The Cardinals beat St. Catherine and Hamline last week, marking just the second time this season SMU has been able to win back-to-back matches. … Saturday’s match vs. sixth-ranked St. Thomas marked the third match in a span of a week that SMU had faced a nationally ranked team (No. 23 Saint Benedict and No. 4 Concordia were the other two). SMU will face yet another ranked team on Wednesday, when the Cardinals travel to No. 25 Carleton. … Molli Dant’s (Forest City, Iowa) 21 kills vs. Hamline last Friday were a season-high. … As a team, the Cardinals collected 69 kills vs. Hamline, also a season high. … SMU’s win over Hamline marked the third time the Cardinals have won a five-game match. … Breanna Benham (Deer River, Minn.) dished out a season- and career-high 58 assists vs. the Pipers. It was the third time this season the SMU freshman has eclipsed the 50-assist mark in a match. … Theresa Perrini (Fairway, Kan.) boasts a team-leading 348 digs and is one of five SMU players with more than 100 digs. The SMU sophomore also ranks third in the MIAC in digs, averaging 6.46 digs/game. … SMU’s sweep of St. Catherine last Wednesday was its first 3-0 win of the season. … With their 2-1 record last week, the Cardinals improved to 4-4 on their home floor. SMU is still winless on the road (0-4). |
but repeat performance not in cards in loss to UST
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Breanna
Benham Career-high 58 assists vs. Hamline |
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, a repeat performance of Friday's come-from-behind win over Hamline — in which Molli Dant (Forest City, Iowa) led a late-match charge with 15 kills in the final two games of SMU's 3-2 win over Hamline last Friday — was not in the cards.
Not with sixth-ranked St. Thomas on the opposite side of the net.
The Tommies, fresh off back-to-back losses to Carleton and Bethel, took out their frustrations on the Cardinals, cruising to a 3-0 (30-20, 30-22, 30-21) Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at the SMU Gym.
"The scores may not say it, but we really did not play that poorly," said SMU coach Mike Lester, whose team had its two-match winning streak snapped with the loss. "We hung right with them every game until about the 20-point mark, and then we just couldn't keep it up.
"St. Thomas is a very good team — they are big and they are solid blockers — and we just gave them way too many free swings," continued Lester, noting that SMU collected 79 digs, but finished with just 39 kills. "When you dig the ball that many times, and don't get a swing from half of them, you are in trouble.
"Especially against a team as good as St. Thomas."
Dant, who collected a season-high 21 kills in Friday's 3-2 win over Hamline, was the Cardinals' leader again against the Tommies, finishing with 11 kills and 20 digs. Breanna Benham (Deer River, Minn.) dished out 30 assists and 16 digs, while Theresa Perrini (Fairway, Kan.) tallied 21 digs.
"I was proud of the way our team hung in there and kept working hard," said Lester, whose team fell to 2-5 in the MIAC and 6-11 overall. "We weren't as in control (vs. St. Thomas) as we have been lately. Everything seemed a little rushed, and we were scrambling way too much just to put the ball back over — and teams like St. Thomas are going to take advantage of that.
"We played well, but you can't put yourself in 2-0 holes night after night and expect to be able to battle back every time. I think as much as anything, we just ran out of gas."