Match Summary | GameDay Preview

ST. PETER, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's tennis coach Jeff Halberg would have loved to have watched his Cardinals knock off perennial Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference power Gustavus Saturday afternoon.

And while the Gusties proved to have too much firepower, the Cardinal head coach certainly found plenty of silver linings in the 8-1 loss — the shiniest of which was the performance of senior Deanne Webber (Reedsburg, Wis.).

Webber, facing Gustavus for the final time in her four-year collegiate career, dropped the first set of her No. 3 singles match 6-2, but rallied for a thrilling 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 victory to account for SMU's lone singles win.

“Gustavus is such a deep, talented team,” said Halberg. “We started out a little slow, but really fought hard from start to finish. Deanne's win (at No. 3 singles) was awesome — what a great win for her.”

The Gusties jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles matches, and picked up straight-set wins in the five remaining singles matches.

“I don't think the final score really told the whole story,” said Halberg, whose Cardinals fell to 1-6 in conference play at 6-8 overall. “We played some very good tennis and the ladies gave it everything they had.”