WINONA, Minn. — After closing out the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference portion of their schedule with a 9-0 loss to high-powered St. Olaf on Friday, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis coach Jeff Halberg was hoping for a bounce-back performance from his Cardinals when they took the court Saturday against St. Norbert.
 
Unfortunately for Halberg and the Cardinals, St. Norbert proved to be a nonconference version of the Oles—a deep, talented, high-octane juggernaut.
 
The Green Knights—winners of 20 of their first 27 matches this season—made Saint Mary's victim No. 21, handing the Cardinals a 9-0 nonconference setback at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"St. Norbert is their conference's champion—and they showed us why," said Halberg. "They are an athletic, deep team. We played hard, we just didn't have enough fire power."
 
The Green Knights dropped just seven games in sweeping the three doubles matches to a take a 3-0 advantage, and then recorded straight-set wins in all six singles matches to seal the victory.
 
The Cardinals (8-9 overall) close out their regular-season schedule on Tuesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 5 p.m. nonconference match against Northwestern (Minn.).