Men's Match Summary

WINONA, Minn.  — A year ago, a banged up Saint Mary's University men's tennis team — minus its top two players due to injury — were no match for Bethel, as the Royals handed SMU an 8-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback in the teams' regular-season finale.

Wednesday evening, the Cardinals were healthy and eager for another shot at the Royals.

Unfortuantely for SMU, the rest was the exact same, as Bethel swept the three doubles competitions and added straight-set wins in five of the six singles matches en route to its second straight 8-1 MIAC win over the Cardinals at the SMU Tennis Center.

“I thought this year might be different, but you have to give Bethel a lot of credit — they finished third in the conference last year, and they proved tonight they belong among the league's elite.”

Steve Clements (La Crosse, Wis.) collected SMU's lone win — and he needed three long sets to get it — as the Cardinal senior collected a 7-5, 2-6, 10-5  win over Jordan LeFebvre at No. 5  singles.

“We fought hard,” said Halberg, whose men's squad fell to 0-3 on the season with their third straight conference setback. “We jjust weren't able to get the big points when we needed them. We came very close to winning all three doubles matches — we had the lead in every one — we just couldn't get  the job done.”