Women's Summary vs. Bethany Lutheran / Women's Summary vs. UM-Crookton

WINONA, Minn. — After losing out on most of its matches during their spring trip to Texas due to inclement weather, Saint Mary's University tennis coach Jeff Halberg knew the importance of Saturday's nonconference matches.

Especially with a key match against Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival St. Thomas looming on the horizon.

A solid performance Saturday was a must.

And the Cardinals delivered.

The SMU men's and women's tennis teams both cruised to 9-0 victories over Bethany Lutheran Saturday at the SMU tennis Center — and the Cardinal women followed that up with another 9-0 victory, this one coming against UM-Crookston later in the afternoon — giving the Cardinals some much-needed momentum heading into Sunday's matches against the Tommies.

"Everyone knows how important (Sunday's) matches against the Tommies are," said Halberg, whose women's team has now won nine straight in improving to 10-2 overall, while the SMU men have won three of their last four to improve to 4-5 overall. "It was good to pick up a couple of dominant nonconference wins — hopefully, it will give us the momentum we need heading into Sunday's matches (against St. Thomas)."

The Vikings proved to be no match for the Cardinals, who won all 12 singles matches in straight sets — including 6-0, 6-0 wins by Abby Cooper (La Crosses, Wis.) and Steve Clements (La Crosse, Wis.). All told, SMU dropped just 14 games in the six women's singles matches, while losing just 18 games on the men's side.

And it didn't get any easier for Bethany Lutheran in double play, as the SMU men lost just one game, while the women won 8-5, 9-2, 8-2.

As dominant as the Cardinal women were against Bethany Lutheran, they were equally as impressive against UM-Crookston, once again sweeping all six singles matches in straight sets, losing just nine games in the process. And in the three doubles matches, SMU cruised to 8-2, 8-4 and 8-0 wins.

"We needed a solid performance like this," said Halberg. "But we can't get complacent — St. Thomas is going to give us a huge battle."