The Cardinals closed out their regular season on a high note Sunday, collecting a 7-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Hamline.

With the win, SMU improved to 4-6 in conference play, leaving them tied in the win column with St. Catherine for the sixth and final MIAC playoff berth. The Wildcats, however, still have two conference matches remaining — Tuesday at St. Thomas (6-2) and Friday at home against St. Olaf (7-2) — leaving the Cardinals to wait and see what the future holds.

If the two teams finished tied, the Cardinals would land the playoff berth, having beaten St. Catherine 5-4 in their regular-season meeting. Throwing yet another monkey wrench into the picture is Concordia, which has one match remaining — at Macalester (2-7) on Saturday. If all three teams finish at 4-6, the tiebreaker scenarios leave coach Jeff Halberg's head spinning.

“The ladies played very well today and the win puts us in good position,” said SMU coach Jeff Halberg. “We did everything we could do — now we just have to wait and see what happens this week. We're in a pretty good position, but we are going to have to see how things unfold for other teams this week.”

The Cardinals raced out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion of Sunday's match vs. Hamline — including a marathon 9-8 (16-14) win by Abby Cooper (La Crosse, Wis.) and Abby Voigt (Burnsville, Minn.) at No. 2 — and never looked back. Bailey Edwards (Fond du Lac, Wis.), Rebecca Edwards (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Voigt and Andrea Allis (Wells, Minn.) all added straight set-singles wins.

“We talked before the match about the importance of getting off to a good start, and that's exactly what we did today,” said Halberg, whose team closed out the regular season with a 12-7 overall record. “Hopefully this win is the one that gets us over the top and into the playoffs."

Match Summary vs. Hamline