If revenge is a dish best served cold, then the St. Mary’s Gaels have a lot to worry about when the No. 11 Stanford Cardinal (9-2, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) roll into Moraga tonight. Stanford has had almost a month to recover from the five-game loss that St. Mary’s saddled them with at the SBC/Sands Tournament in Reno, Nevada. The match marked the first time that the Gaels have ever beaten the Cardinal.

The Cardinal started that match slowly, dropping the first two games to the unranked Gaels before coming back to take games three and four and force a game five. In the final game, however, the Cardinal simply had too many mistakes, tallying eight unforced errors to give St. Mary’s the game, 15-8 and the match, 3-2.

To their credit, St. Mary’s played a solid match and spread the ball well, with four players tallying double digit kills. Led by junior outside hitter and tournament MVP Kaui Salzman, the Gaels would go on to beat Utah State and win the tournament. The Cardinal finished second.

“Give St. Mary’s credit for coming out and playing good volleyball against us,” said Stanford head coach John Dunning. “We didn’t play very well, but they did a good job of frustrating our hitters and not being scared. They just outplayed us and deserved the win.”

So the Cardinal will head across the bay looking to pull even and prove that they can beat the Gaels. While the match is non-conference, look for the Cardinal to take this one very seriously.

“Every match we play, we’re looking to improve on our last match,” senior libero Leahi Hall said. “We didn’t play like we wanted to last time against St. Mary’s, so this match is doubly important because it gives us a chance not only to improve but to correct our mistakes from last time.”

The Gaels will be facing a slightly different Cardinal team Tuesday night.

In Reno, junior setter Katie Goldhahn was out with a strained right Achilles tendon and is now back in the lineup.

“Being able to use both setters [freshman Bryn Kehoe and Goldhahn] is a great advantage for us,” Dunning said. “The 6-2 set gives us a lot more options for attacking and makes us a more dangerous team.”

The Cardinal lineup at the beginning of the month also featured Hall, who is currently out with a hamstring injury. Though the libero was improving, she re-injured herself during yesterday’s practice. The team plans to take Hall’s recovery slowly.

“Because of the nature of her injury and all the explosive motions volleyball requires, we’re going to ease her back slowly into things,” Dunning said. “We’ll miss her on the defensive side of the ball in the meantime.”

With Hall out, junior Courtney Schultz has shifted back to the libero position she occupied last year.

Because of the changes to the rules, Schultz will be able to continue to serve, a skill that will help the Cardinal.

“It feels good to be back at libero,” Schultz said. “I played there my first two years, so I’m most comfortable there. I love passing and working on my defense.”

“Courtney is one of those players who just wants to be out there and play no matter what she’s doing,” Dunning added. “She’s a great defensive player and adds a lot of stability to our passing game.”

Sophomore Lizzie Suiter looks to have a repeat performance of her match against the Gaels earlier this year. She posted a career high nine blocks and added four kills. Suiter has matched that career high in Stanford’s last two contests against Arizona and Arizona State.

“Because I get to play more often, I’ve become much more comfortable on the court,” Suiter said. “I understand how our system works now; it’s a good system, and I’ve gotten so used to it that I don’t have to think about it.”

For the Cardinal to top the Gaels, outside hitters senior Ogonna Nnamani and sophomore Kristin Richards must have better matches than they did in Reno. Constantly frustrated by the St. Mary’s block, which often threw two and sometimes three bodies up against the kill, Nnamani only managed to hit .180 and Richards .103.

However, the pair is feeling more in tune with freshman setter Bryn Kehoe and the rest of the team.

“Our chemistry improves every week,” Nnamani said. “I’ve never been a part of a team at Stanford that improves so much every week. We’re gelling fast as a unit. It’s especially great having Katie back.”

The Cardinal take the court tonight at McKeon Pavilion at St. Mary’s College at 7 p.m.