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ST. PETER, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's tennis coach Jeff Halberg knew exactly what the key would be to his Cardinals' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament-opener against St. Thomas Friday afternoon.

A quick start.

And a quick start is exactly what transpired at the Swanson Tennis Center on the campus of Gustavus.

Unfortunately for Halberg, it was the Tommies who got off to the roaring start, winning all three doubles matches en route to the 5-0 victory.

“We battled hard to the end, but were beaten by a great team,” said Halberg. “The guys gave it everything they had, (St. Thomas) just had too much firepower.

“Despite the loss, it was a good season — a very good season.”

St. Thomas drew first blood, as the Tommies' Allen-Michael Muench and Steven Kanse made quick work of SMU's doubles team of Collin Kaczorowski (Suamico, Wis.)/Andrew Rangitsch (Oakdale, Minn.), beating the Cardinal duo 8-1 at No. 3 doubles.

The Tommies would push that lead to 2-0 thanks to an 8-6 win by Brendan O'Connell/Brady Radermacher over SMU's Sam Puff (Eden Prairie, Minn.)/Gavin Smith (White Bear Lake, Minn.) at No. 2.

SMU's No. 1 doubles pair of Michael Lunka (Eagan, Minn.)/Bobby Steingraeber (La Crosse, Wis.) rallied from a 5-4 deficit to take a 7-6 lead, but UST's Brian McCarthy/Mitchell Blackey won three straight games to seal a 9-7 win and give UST its commanding 3-0 advantage.

St. Thomas made it 4-0 to open singles play, as Blackey collected a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Steingraeber and O'Connell held off Lunka in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0  to close out the match.

With the win, St. Thomas advances to take on Carleton in one of the tournament's two semifinal matches at 9 a.m. Saturday , while the Cardinals — making their first MIAC Tournament appearance since the inception of the six-team format in 2007 — close out their season 17-7.