Box Score

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's tennis coach Jeff Halberg didn't want his team's winning streak to come to an end — he and the Cardinals were having too much fun.

But if the Cardinals' season-high winning streak did have to end, it might as well come at the hands of one of the nation's best teams.

Which is exactly what happened Sunday evening.

The Cardinals, fresh off a 6-3 win over Hamline earlier in the day — a victory that pushed that winning streak to six straight and gave SMU 10 wins in its last 11 matches — were no match for Gustavus, as the No. 4-ranked Gusties steamrolled to a 9-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win.

"If our winning streak was going to end, it might has well have happened against the No. 4-ranked team in the nation," said Halberg, whose team managed to win just nine games in the 10 singles sets. "It's been a good run — these ladies have never backed down from a challenge all season, and today was no different."

The Cardinals rebounded from two losses in the three doubles matches against the Pipers, getting dominating performances from Ashley Meschke (Pequot Lakes, Minn.), Ann Leeder (Greenfield, Wis.), Lisa Thompson (Lake City, Minn.), Becky Newby (Brookfield, Wis.) and Lindsay Johnson (Rogers, Minn.) to lock up the win.

How impressive were the Cardinals' singles wins? SMU won all five in straight sets, never losing more than four games in any of the 10 sets.

"That was a big win for us," said Halberg. "Instead of laying down after the doubles, we roared back and played very well in the singles matches. Hopefully we'll be able to use that match as a spring board as we head into the MIAC tournament."

The SMU men are certainly heading into the conference tournament with a full head of steam, as the Cardinals closed out their regular-season schedule with a 5-4 victory over the Pipers.

"This was a great match and a beautiful way to finish the regular season," said Halberg, whose men's team has now won four straight. "I'm so proud of everyone — they put everything they had into this match and after all the close matches this year, to beat a Hamline team we haven't beaten in eight years is just huge."

But it certainly wasn't easy.

After winning two of the three doubles matches, SMU picked up a straight-set singles victories from Tyler Stevenson (Neenah, Wis.) at No. 1 and a three-set, 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 win by Tom Vollman (Oak Park, Ill.) at No. 6 singles to tie the match 4-4, with just Mark Leeder's (Greenfield, Wis.) match remaining — and the end result hanging in the balance.

Leeder came through in the clutch, bouncing back from a second-set loss to beat Jon Henning 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 and give SMU the win.

"Mark played a tremendous match," praised Halberg. "But then, so did everyone. It was a great team effort, and a great end to the regular season."