UW-River Falls Match Summary

WINONA, Minn. — It wasn't their best effort — but for the Saint Mary's University women's tennis team, it was good enough.

SMU played host to UW-River Falls in their final nonconference match of the season Friday evening, and while the Cardinals weren't nearly as sharp as they were Wednesday evening in a 6-3 victory over Hamline, the result was the same — a win.

And for coach Jeff Halberg, at this stage in the season, that's the only thing that matters.

"The ladies put in a really solid effort against a resilient UW-River Falls team," said Halberg, whose Cardinals posted their third straight win. "We didn't play our best tennis today, but I always think that it's a sign of a good team when you can come away with a win, even when you aren't at the top of your game."

The Cardinals swept all three doubles matches, getting 8-5 wins at No. 1 and No. 2, while Val Meschke (Pine River, Minn.) and Sara Clements (La Crosse, Wis.) cruised to an easy, 8-0 win at No. 3.

The Falcons dominated the top of the singles portion, winning at Nos. 1-3, while Toni Troumbly (Bovey, Minn.), Brittney Nielsen (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Colleen Radermacher (Belgrade, Minn.) picked up wins for SMU at four, five  and six singles. Troumbly and Radermacher were straight-set winners, with Nielsen rallying from a 6-4, first-set loss to win 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 at No. 5.

"This was a good final tune-up before we head into the last week of the regular season," said Halberg, whose team closes  out its regular season with road matches at St. Olaf (Saturday), Gustavus (Sunday) and St. Catherine (Wednesday), with hopes of a first-ever MIAC Tournament berth hanging in the balance. "We're playing some pretty solid tennis right now — hopefully that will be enough to get us into the conference tournament."