WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Northwestern women's tennis teams entered Wednesday's nonconference match having won a combined 11 straight matches.
 
The Cardinals took the courts having won each of its last four, while the visiting Eagles were riding a seven-match winning streak.
 
Unfortunately, when the dust settled from the teams' battle, it was the Eagles' winning streak that remained in tact.
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but the Eagles came away with three, three-set singles matches in posting the come-from-behind 5-4 victory at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"We lost a tough one to a very, very good team," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "Give Northwestern (the reigning UMAC regular-season co-champion) credit—they just kept fighting. We grabbed a 4-2 lead, but couldn't hang on, losing three tough super-breakers."
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, thanks to 9-3 and 8-6 wins at No. 2 and No. 3 by Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis./Julia Boeve (ST. James, Minn.) and Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.)/Marissa Kinzer (Aitkin, Minn.), respectively.
 
Vandenberg added a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles and Boeve chipped in a 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 4 to give the Cardinals their 4-2 lead.
 
From there, however, it was all Northwestern, as the Eagles won 6-7, 6-2, 10-3 at No. 3; 3-6, 7-5, 10-1 at No. 5; and 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 at No. 6 to seal the victory—and snap the Cardinals' winning streak.
 
Saint Mary's (11-6 overall) closes out its regular-season schedule on Saturday, traveling to St. Joseph, Minn., for a noon conference showdown against Saint Benedict. A win against the Blazers, and the Cardinals lock up the No. 6 seed in the MIAC Playoffs.