Match Summary vs. Concordia

FARGO, N.D. — There were times Friday evening that Saint Mary's University tennis coach Jeff Halberg had the feeling his men's and women's teams would come away from the Courts Plus Tennis Center with a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victories over Concordia.

And there were other times Halberg feared his teams would come out on the short end.

It was those other times that got the better of the Cardinals, as Concordia rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat the SMU women 5-4, while the Cardinal men dropped a pair of three-set matches in falling to the Cobbers 6-3.

“It was a tough night,” admitted Halberg. “With a little luck, the guys match easily could have gone either way. We were able to pull out one three set match in a tie-breaker, but we couldn't get the same results in the other two. It was a great match all the way around.”

As was the women's match.

“It was a hard-fought match, right to the end,” Halberg said. “Every match, from top-to-bottom was so close, nothing was certain until the very last point. We played some great tennis, but Concordia was able to come out on top.”

Justin Loeffler (Winona, Minn.) and Steven Mino (La Crosse, Wis.) collected the SMU men's two singles victories, with Loeffler winning 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 singles, while Mino went the maximum three sets, before falling to Concordia's Arnie Andreasen 6-3, 2-6, 10-6 at No. 6. David Reckase (La Crosse, Wis.) and Brian Kasel (Minneapolis, Minn.) teamed for an 8-5 victory at No. 3 doubles to account for the Cardinals' other win.

In the women's match, SMU jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles competition, getting wins from Rebecca Snyder (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Briana Placek (Greendale, Wis.) at No. 2 and Abby Cooper (La Crosse, Wis.) and Sara Clements (La Crosse, Wis.) at No. 3.

Snyder added a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles, while Brittney Nielsen (Apple Valley, Min.) tallied a 6-3, 7-5 triumph at No. 6 to push SMU's lead to 4-1. From there, however, it was all Concordia, as the Cobbers won three of the final four singles matches in straight sets, while Ayiah Kamel outlasted SMU's Toni Troumbly (Bovey, Minn.) 6-2, 3-6, 10-6 at No. 4 singles.

“I'm proud of the way we played,” said Halberg, whose women's team is back in action on Wednesday, traveling to River Falls, Wis., to take on UW-River Falls and Northwestern (Minn.), while the Cardinal men are off until Thursday, when they travel to St. Thomas for a conference match against the Tommies. “Everyone gave it their all and we put together some really solid tennis.

“It was two great, collegiate tennis matches.”