Match Summary vs. St. Catherine

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team put an end to their five-match losing streak Friday evening — but St. Catherine certainly didn't make it easy.

The Wildcats got the best of SMU in three straight three-set singles matches, but in the end, it was not enough as the Cardinals outlasted CSC 5-4 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at the Winona Indoor Tennis Center.

“What a great match,” said SMU coach Jeff Halberg, whose team improved to 2-5 overall and picked up their first conference win in five MIAC matches. “This was a huge win for us. We fought really hard at all positions and even thought we dropped some hard-fought (singles) matches, we were able to pull out the win.”

The Cardinals headed into the singles portion of the match with a 2-1 advantage, getting an 8-4 win from Bailey Edwards (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and Rebecca Snyder (Eden Prairie, Minn.) at No. 1 doubles, and an 8-1 victory from Sara Clements (La Crosse, Wis.) and Briana Placek (Greendale, Wis.) at No. 3.

Edwards, Snyder and Brittney Nielsen (Apple Valley, Minn.) added straight-set singles wins — losing just eight games between the three of them — while Courtney Spartz (Western Springs, Ill.), Toni Troumbly (Bovey, Minn.) and Abby Cooper (La Crosse, Wis.) were tough-luck, three-set losers at No. 3, 4 and 5 singles, respectively.

“We needed a performance like this,” said Halberg. “We've played some good tennis of late but didn't have much to show for our efforts. Tonight, we were able to play pretty solid tennis and were rewarded with the win.”