OMAHA, Neb. – Rick Pruett knows the only way to truly know where you are is to play the big dogs.

That's why his College of Saint Mary volleyball team was in the Lied Fitness Center Fieldhouse late into the night on Saturday, slugging it out with Eastern Oregon, rated fifth nationally in the preseason but likely to be No. 1 when the next set of ratings come out on Sept. 3. That's because the Mounties swept all four opponents during the College of Saint Mary/MH Hospitality Labor Day Classic, including No. 4 Concordia University and No. 7 Northwestern College out of the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

Eastern Oregon's final victory of the weekend was a hard-fought 25-18, 25-23, 25-17 victory over CSM to wrap up the 22-team event. Earlier in the day, CSM beat the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) 25-14, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21.

But the Eastern Oregon match was the one that revealed the most.

"These are the ones that you have to play to see where you are and how you match up with the best of the best,'' Pruett said. "I can't imagine in the next rankings that Eastern Oregon's not the No. 1 team in the country, probably unanimously. They're a great team, and I thought we played very inspirational volleyball.''

The second set featured perhaps CSM's highest level of volleyball this season to date, with the hosts matching Eastern Oregon's quick, powerful attack point for point.

"We had to change our pace a little bit because they're such a fast-tempo team and we did it,'' Pruett said. "We did some great things.''

Azaria Green's kill gave CSM (7-3) a 22-21 lead, then the Flames had an attack error. A service error gave CSM a 23-22 edge, but the Mounties (8-0) closed out the set on a pair of Keira Vaughn kills sandwiched around an Ava Semprimoznik ace.

"Twenty-three points was the most anybody scored against them in a set all weekend,'' Pruett noted.

Green lifted her play to the moment, leading CSM with 11 kills and a .364 hitting percentage.

Elen Pruett led the defense with 16 digs and Krissy Radicia was next with eight. Rick Pruett lauded their back-row work throughout the two days.

"Both Krissy and Elen had phenomenal weekends,'' he said. "They're getting a lot of balls up. They're hustling, diving on the floor. They're digging in on big bombs and they're taking it in stride, taking it like troopers, so I'm proud of what they did.''

In their opener on Saturday, the Flames had to work hard to get past an upset-minded Saint Francis club. After dominating the opening set, Saint Francis hit .294 in the second to even the match.

Things were tense again in the third with the set tied at 22, but a pair of Caylin Barnett kills followed by a Mya Weber termination sent the Flames off the fourth with a two-sets-to-one lead.

CSM led the fourth 22-20, but got kills from Barnett and Caitlin McCormack along with a Cougar to close it out.

Four Flames reached double-digit kills: Barnett (14), Madalyn Welp (12), McCormack (11) and Weber (10). Kaitlyn Busby had 25 assists and 10 digs, while Kennedy Buck added 17 assists, nine digs and two aces, and Elen Pruett contributed 19 digs and 10 assists.

Welp gave CSM a huge boost from the right side throughout the tournament.

"Madalyn Welp was phenomenal all weekend,'' the CSM coach said.

All in all, Rick Pruett said his club gained plenty from the two days of action.

"A 2-2 weekend is a good weekend, based on the fact that the two teams that beat us are national powers,'' he said, referring to CSM's four-set loss to No. 18 College of Idaho on Friday. "I thought we did some great things all weekend. I'm really proud of the girls. We had a real chance to beat Idaho yesterday. … Losses to those type of teams, jf you can stay competitive vs. those teams, don't hurt us in the grand scheme of things. We're growing and that's what we have to do.''

CSM returns to action on Saturday at home in its GPAC opener against No. 20 Midland, set for a 5 p.m. start.