Box Score

ST. PETER, Minn. — Less than two weeks ago, the Saint Mary's Univesrity men's tennis team left the SMU Tennis Center with a hard-fought, nailbiting, 5-4 victory over Macalester in the teams' regular-season Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season match.

"It was a match that could have gone either way," said coach Jeff Halberg said afterwards. "The guys hung tough and got the job done."

The Cardinals and Scots met again Friday afternoon in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament — and this time, SMU left little doubt.

SMU swept through the three doubles matches, and picked up singles wins at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 singles en route to a convincing 7-2 victory.

Things didn't go quite as smoothly the rest of the way, however.

Carleton cruised to a 7-2 second-round win over the Cardinals, while SMU was a tough-luck loser in its opening match on Saturday, falling to St. Olaf 5-4, before losing an 8-1 decision to Hamline in the seventh-place match.

Tyler Stevenson (Neenah, Wis.), Mark Leeder (Grenfield, Wis.), Tony Miller (Rochester, Minn.) and Dan Fahey (Brookfield, Ill.) were all singles winners vs. Macalester — with Leeder needed three sets to get past the Scots' Aaron Heerboth 6-0, 4-6, 10-8.

Stevenson and Leeder also teamed for a 9-8 (10-8) win at No. 1 doubles, pushing the SMU twosome's season record to 15-4. Miller and Ryan Kennedy (Rochester, Minn.) added an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles, while Adam Solseth (Shakopee, Minn.)-Tom Vollman (Oak Park, Ill.) completed the doubles sweep wtih an 8-6 win at No. 3.

Leeder gained a bit of revenge over Carleton's Peter Vanum to account for SMU's lone singles win vs. the Knights, as Leeder won 1-6, 6-0, 10-7. Varnum beat Leeder in three sets — including 14-12 in the third-set tiebreaker — during their regular-season meeting.

Leeder also had a hand in SMU's other win vs. Carleton, teaming with Stevenson for a n 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles.

SMU opened play vs. St. Olaf with doubles wins at No. 1 and No. 3 as Leeder-Stevenson posted an 8-6 win at No. 1, with Solseth-Vollman adding an 8-5 win at No. 3. Stevenson and Leeder also won their singles matches — Stevenson cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1, and Leeder adding a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 2.

Leeder was the lone SMU winner vs. Hamline in the seventh-place match, as the SMU senior posted a three-set, 0-6, 6-3, 10-8 win at No. 2 singles. Stevenson dropped a heartbreaking three-setter — 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 — at No. 1 singles, while Fahey was a 7-6, 6-7, 10-2 loser at No. 5.