Macalester vs. St. Mary's statistics

St. Mary's moved closer to securing a spot in the conference playoffs by beating Macalester 25-15, 28-26 and 25-19 Friday night in Winona. The Cardinals hit .283 and improve to 19-8 on the year, 5-3 in the MIAC, while the Scots are now 11-5 overall and 1-7 in conference action.

The Scots played a solid match, especially in the close second set when they rattled off seven straight points to turn a 15-20 deficit into a 22-20 lead. SMU, however, tallied the final two points to escape with the 28-26 victory. There were 11 ties and six lead changes in the set.  St. Mary's enjoyed seemingly-comfortable 19-6 and 20-7 margins in the third set before Macalester staged an 11-3 run to get within five points at 23-18.

Kiera Coulter (Sr., Davis, Calif.) contributed 17 digs and Majra Mucic (Sr., Zenica, Bosnia / St. Louis Park – Minn.) led the attack with 12 kills. Anna Trier (So., Sun Prairie, Wis.) finished with seven kills and a .400 hitting percentage, while Laura Avena (Fy., Cesis, Latvia / Riga Gimnasium #1) also spiked seven kills to go along with 12 digs. Danielle Dweck (Jr., Sea Cliff, N.Y. / North Shore) provided the hitters with 31 assists.

The Cardinals were led by Sarah Gardner with 18 kills and Jessica Mate with 13 kills and three blocks. St. Mary's hit .283 for the match.

Mac jumps right back into action tomorrow when it hosts Hamline at 3 p.m. at the Leonard Center.