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WINONA, Minn. - The 2014 season didn't get off to quite the start Saint Mary's University women's tennis coach Jeff Halberg was hoping for - but the Cardinals ended Day 1 on a much higher note.

SMU suffered an 8-1 decision to two-time reigning Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season champion Carleton Knghts to open its Saturday, before rebounding with an impressive 9-0 nonconference victory over the Martin Luther Knights later in the day at the Winona Tennis Center.

The Knights, which made its fifth straight trip to the NCAA national tournament a year ago, raced out to a 3-0 lead by sweeping the doubles, while adding straight-set wins in four of their five singles wins.

Megan Vandenberg (DePere, Wis.) - playing in her first collegiate match - picked up her first win as a Cardinal at No. 5 singles, posting a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Carleton's Joyce Yu, while Lindsey Reinisch (Hastings, Minn.) dropped a marathon at No. 3 singles, falling to the Knights' Grace Davis 1-6, 6-0, 12-10.

"We played well all day," said SMU coach Jeff Halberg. "Carleton is a very talented team, and I thought for our first match of the season we put together a pretty solid effort.

"We've still got a few things to work on, but also some real positives to take away from our first day."

If the Cardinals were feeling any frustration from their season-opening loss to Carleton, they took it out on Martin Luther later in the day, as SMU dropped just eight games in 12 singles sets, while winning the three doubles matches 8-2, 8-1 and 8-2.

Grace Zachman (Elk River, Minn.), Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.), Reinisch, Leanne Cleveland (La Crosse, Wis.), Vandenberg and Haley Jorgenson (Fallon, Nev.) were all victorious in singles play against Martin Luther.

The Cardinals are right back in action on Sunday, as SMU plays its third match in two days with a nonconference showdown with Bemidji State at noon at the Winona Tennis Center.