Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — What a difference a day makes.

The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team failed to win a set in Saturday's 9-0 setback to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference power Gustavus

Twenty-four hours later, the Cardinals won four singles matches — and were leading in two others that were not finished because of a time restriction — en route to a 5-2 victory over Concordia.

"(Saturday) we took our lumps against Gustavus, so it was nice to see the ladies bounce back (against the Cobbers)," said SMU coach Jeff Halberg. "It's not that we played that poorly (against Gustavus on Saturday), it's just that Gustavus is such a tough team — they really took it to us.

"(Against Concordia) we stepped our game up a bit," continued Halberg. "We didn't show any ill effects from the Gustavus match and really came to play, and that was important."

Ashley Meschke (Pequot Lakes, Minn.), Val Meschke (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) and Aubrey Hirsch (Topeka, Kan.) all posted straight-set singles wins — losing just four games combined — while Ann Leeder (Greenfield, Wis.) added a three-set, 6-2, 2-6, 10-4 victory at No. 2 singles.

The Meschke sisters also combined for an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles to cap the Cardinals' second win of the season.

The Cardinal men weren't quite as fortunate against the Cobbers, as Concordia cruised to an 8-1 win.

"This was one of those days where nothing seemed to go right for us," said Halberg. "Everything started out fine — we were leading in all three doubles matches — but then it was like we hit an invisible wall. And once we hit that wall, Concordia stole the momentum and never let up."

Walter Mannino (Chicago, Ill.) picked up SMU's lone win, posting a 7-6, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles. Tyler Stevenson (Neenah, Wis.) had his season-long eight-match winning streak snapped with a 7-5, 5-7, 10-7 loss at No. 1 singles, while the other four SMU singles players all lost in straight sets.

"The guys played OK — not great, not poorly, just OK — and Concordia played a great match," said Halberg. "It was one of those matches where we needed to be at our best, and we couldn't quite get our games to that level."