Box Score

WINONA, Minn. — Despite the fact that the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team had won its last two matches be identical 9-0 scores, SMU coach Jeff Halberg knew the Cardinals' showdown against St. Thomas Sunday afternoon at the SMU Tennis Center would be anything but a walk in the park.

And he was right.

There wasn't any walking — rather, a sprint to the finish.

After splitting the six singles matches — SMU winning at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 — and the first two doubles matches, the Tommies escaped with an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles, and a hard-fought, 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over SMU.

The SMU women also entered Sunday's matchup with the Tommies riding back-to-back 9-0 wins — including a shutout win over UW-Stevens Point earlier in the day. And, just like the Cardinal men, SMU wasn't able to keep that winning streak in tact, as UST cruised to an 8-1 win.

"I can't feel too bad — both teams played so well today," said Halberg. "The guys played their hearts out. St. Thomas has always been a thorn in our sides, and today we matched them stroke-for-stroke. There's no doubt this was a match that could have gone either way — we just came out on the short end of a great match."

Tyler Stevenson (Neenah, Wis.) cruised to a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles — improving to 12-1 overall with his fourth straight win. SMU's other two singles wins weren't quite so easy, as Tony Miller (Rochester, Minn.) and Adam Solseth (Shakopee, Minn.) both needed three sets — Miller 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 at No. 2 and Solseth 4-6, 7-6, 11-9 at No. 3 — to collect their wins.

Stevenson and Solseth them teamed for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles, but the Tommies came away with back-to-back 8-6 wins at No. 2 and 3 to ice the win.,

"The guys really came to play today," said Halberg. "They put it all on the line out there, I've certainly got no complaints about their effort."

Halberg wasn't complaining about his women's team's effort, either.

"I think we ran out of gas a little towards the end of the match, but that wasn't what cost us — St. Thomas was a little bit better than we were," said Halberg, whose women lost just seven games in the six singles matches of their 9-0 triumph over UW-Stevens Point, but could only come up with a 7-5, 6-2 win by Aubrey Hirsch (Topeka, Kan.) at No. 5 singles against the high-powered Tommies. "We gave it everything we had — there's no reason for anyone to hang their heads."