Complete Martin Luther Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — It took a little longer than coach Jeff Halberg and the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team would have liked, but the Cardinals finally picked up their first win of the season Saturday evening.

And they did so in convincing fashion.

The Cardinals lost just 17 games in the nonconference match — including sweeping the three doubles matches by identical 8-1 scores — en route to a 9-0 victory over Martin Luther at the SMU Tennis Center.

“Hopefully, this is the start of an upswing in the season,” said Halberg, whose team had lost three straight conference matches heading into Saturday's first nonconference match of the season. “Everyone played very well, and we were in good form all the way around.

“It's nice to finally get that first win — hopefully there are a lot more to come.”

SMU got straight-set singles wins from Walter Mannino (Chicago, Ill.), Tom Vollman (Oak Park, Ill.), Pawel Szczepkowski# (Opolskie, Poland), Steve Grundhoefer (St. Paul, Minn.), Steve Clements (La Crosse, Wis.) and Andy Weigman (Maple Plain, Minn.).

Mannino and Vollman teamed up for an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles, while Clements and Justin Loeffler (Winona, Minn.) and Mike Berg (Owatonna, Minn.) and Steve Mino (Austin, Minn.) followed suit at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

“We needed a match like this,” Halberg said. “Everyone got into the action, and everyone played well — it was a good, all-around effoft.”