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WINONA, Minn. — The day started with a nail-biter and finished with a rout, as the Saint Mary's University men's tennis picked up a pair of nonconference wins Saturday at the Winona Tennis Center.

The Cardinals rallied from a 4-2 deficit with wins at Nos. 1, 3 and 4 singles to knock off Wartburg 5-4, then came through with a 8-1 victory over Bethany Lutheran in their second match of the day.

"Great, great day of tennis," said SMU coach Jeff Halberg. "That Wartburg match was just amazing — and the guys followed that up with a solid performance against Bethany Lutheran."

After dropping two of the three doubles matches against Wartburg, the Cardinals lost in straight sets at No. 4 and No. 6 singles, while collecting a straight set, 6-4, 6-0 win by Collin Kaczorowski (Suamico, Wis.) to put SMU in a 4-2 hole.

Gavin Smith (White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Blake Olmscheid (Farmington, Minn.) pulled the Cardinals even with back-to-back three-set wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, leaving the match hanging in the balance with No. 1 singles player Tim Wolford (Maple Grove, Minn.) the lone Cardinal on the court.

Wolford dropped the opening set 6-3, bounced back with a 7-6 (7-4) win in the second set, then outlasted Wartburg's Koo Miyake 10-7 in the third set to seal the SMU win.

The Cardinals made it look a little easier against Bethany Lutheran, sweeping the doubles matches, before picking up straight-set wins by Kaczorowski, Smith, Olmscheid, Warren Lawrenz (Rochester, Minn.) and Nick Kasel (Minneapolis, Minn.) in their singles matches to secure the win.

The Cardinals, who improve to 7-1 overall, are back in action next Saturday, when they square off against Saint John's and Gustavus in a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matches at the Winona Tennis Center.