Volleyball 10/12/05 -- St. Mary's 3, Augsburg 1 (30-11, 30-24, 28-30, 30-24)

BOXSCORE

WINONA, Minn. (10/12/05) -- They made it look easy in Game 1 -- it was the rest of the match that the St. Mary's University volleyball team made difficult. Fortunately for the Cardinals, the end result was a victory ? a not-so-easy 3-1 (30-11, 30-24, 28-30, 30-24) triumph over visiting Augsburg College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at the SMU Gym Wednesday evening.

"You've got to give Augsburg a lot of credit -- after that first game, they came back and really played us tough," said SMU coach Mike Lester. "I knew (after the first game) that the rest of the match wasn't going to be quite that easy, and everyone really did a nice job of staying focused."

Which isn't all that easy after scoring the first eight points of the opening game and 19 of the first 23 en route to the lopsided Game 1 win.

"We served very well in that first game," said Lester, whose team collected six aces -- including four by Molli Dant (Jr., Forest City, Iowa) in Game 1 alone. "And (Augsburg) was giving us a lot of free balls -- and when you give us free balls like that, we're as good as any team in the MIAC."

Nothing came free in Games 2, 3 and 4, however, as SMU had to rally from an early 7-3 deficit to win Game 2, then allowed the Auggies to score the final two points of a see-saw Game 3, before icing the win with a 13-3 run that turned an 11-11 tie into a commanding 24-14 SMU advantage.

"We weren't as sharp in the third or fourth game," admitted Lester. "Our serve receive broke down, and we struggled to get into our offense. Fortunately, we got the momentum back with that (13-3) run and hung on for the win."

Dant led the Cardinals with 15 kills, 20 digs and six aces. Megan Roesler (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) had 13 kills, three aces and four blocks, Rachel Rivers (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.) had 12 kills, 21 digs and four blocks, and Amy Benz (Sr., Oshkosh, Wis./Lourdes HS) had 11 kills and two blocks. Desiree Larson (Sr., Blaine, Minn./Centennial HS) had 21 digs, and Michelle Mino (Sr., Austin, Minn./Pacelli HS) had 41 assists.

Augsburg was led by Linnea Evans * (Sr., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS), who finished one dig away from a triple-double, with 113 kills, 18 assists and nine digs. Sarah Bradley (So., International Falls, Minn.) had a double-double with 15 kills, 12 digs and three aces, and Katie LaGrave (So., Okinawa, Japan/Kadena HS) had 10 kills. Billie Painschab * (Sr., Howard Lake, Minn./Howard Lake-Waverly HS) had six kills and two blocks (one solo). Alexis Johnson (Sr., Oakdale, Minn./North St. Paul HS) had 28 assists and nine digs, and libero Haley Bower (So., Brainerd, Minn.) recorded 24 digs, her sixth 20-plus-dig performance of the season.

Both teams return to MIAC action next Wednesday (10/19) at 7 p.m. Augsburg hosts St. Benedict at Si Melby Hall, while St. Mary's plays at St. Olaf.