GameDay Preview | USTA-ITA Results

ST. PETER, Minn. — If people around the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference hadn't heard the name McKennah Edwards (Prior Lake, Minn.) before, they certainly have now.

Edwards, playing in her first collegiate tennis tournament as a member of the Saint Mary's University women's tennis team, reached the championship match of the USTA-ITA Midwest Regional Championships Sunday, before falling to UW-Whitewater's Kalla Schaefer, 6-2, 6-2.

“What a great ay to start your collegiate career,” said SMU coach Jeff Halberg of Edwards — who joins sisters Bailey and Killian on the Cardinals' roster. “McKennah played so well all weekend, she just ran out of gas a bit in the championship match.

“Give credit to (Schaefer), she played an outstanding match, but McKennah just didn't have anything left in the tank — she was just too tired to dig out some of the shots she might otherwise have been able to return.”

Edwards reached the title match with straight-set wins over UW-Eau Claire's Katie Gillman (6-3, 6-4), Lawrence's Jennifer Roesch (6-1, 6-0), Carleton's Anne Lombardi (7-2 (7-2), 6-3), Gustavus' Laurel Krebsbach (6-2, 6-3) and UW-Whitewater's Alexandra Bayliss (6-2, 6-2).

“It was a great, great effort by McKennah,” said Halberg. “Coach Sokolowski and myself are very proud of her performance — and she should be, too.”

The Cardinals' 2012 spring season gets underway on Feb. 3, when they host Winona State (4 p.m.) and Northwestern (6 p.m.) at the Winona Tennis Center.