STORM LAKE, Iowa (Sept. 19, 2023) - Seniors Rachel Brockney, Mallory McCauley and Skylar Cole combined for 49 kills as Buena Vista chalked up a season-high 65 overall, but St. Mary's University (Minn.) held off the Beavers in a thrilling five-set non-conference match-up on Tuesday night inside of Siebens Fieldhouse.

BVU got off to a hot start in the opening set and led start to finish en route to a 25-18 victory. The Cardinals came back in the second and scored six straight points to lead 9-3. The Beavers then used a 9-2 surge to go in front 13-12 and it was back-and-forth from there until SMU scored four straight points to win 25-20.

The Beavers looked poised to go up two sets to one as they held a 23-20 lead in the third set, but the Cardinals took advantage of three straight attack errors to roll off five straight points to take the set 25-20.

Saint Mary's held a 16-14 lead late in the fourth set, but the Beavers were able to extend the match by rallying with a big 7-2 run that pushed them in front 21-18. The Cardinals had a rally of their own to pull even at 24-24 but a kill from freshman Jilly Janssen and an attack error from SMU gave BVU a thrilling 26-24 victory. The set featured 11 ties and four lead changes.

Saint Mary's scored the first scored the first three points of the decisive fifth set and led 4-1 before a pair of attack errors from SMU followed by a big kill from freshman Kyla Vaughn made it a 4-4 contest. It was later tied at both 7-7, 9-9 and 13-13 before the Cardinals scored back-to-back points to win 15-13.

Brockney led the power surge for BVU by matching a season-high 19 kills and adding her third straight kill-dig double-double with 14 digs. McCauley followed with 16 digs and 11 digs and Cole chipped in with 14 kills and five total blocks. Janssen added her ninth assist-dig double-double this season with 50 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Molly Bense led all players with 16 digs.

The loss snaps BVU's six-match home win streak and dips the team to 6-7 overall this season. It now has a week off before opening American Rivers Conference play on Tuesday, Sept. 26 by hosting Wartburg College at 6p.m.