ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team kicked off the ITA/Oracle Midwest Region Tournament and Gustavus Fall Invitational in winning fashion Friday afternoon.
 
The Cardinals' duo of Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) opened tournament play with back-to-back singles wins, while Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) picked up three straight singles victories at the Gustavus Fall Invitational.
 
Sonday, who earned a first-round bye, kicked off the tournament by cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Northwestern's Brooke Lipinski, before notching her second win of the afternoon—a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Luther's Claire Christian. Sonday's run came to a screeching halt in the fourth round, falling to Gustavus' Ginger Valentine, 7-5, 6-0.
 
Boeve and teammate Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.) also earned a bye through the opening round of the ITA/Oracle Midwest Region. Barr—who finished a perfect 4-0 at the Gustavus Fall Invitational a year ago—collected a 7-5, 6-4 win over Macalester's Claire Buehler, while Boeve beat Hamline's Ali Kopiecki in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
 
Boeve added a three-set, 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 win over Saint Benedict's Erin Kolbow, but lost in the fourth round, 6-2, 6-0 to UW-La Crosse's Hayley Cope. Barr, meanwhile, came up short in her third-round match, falling to UW-Eau Claire's Molly Stewart, 6-0, 6-1.
 
Sonday and Lois teamed up in the doubles portion of the ITA/Oracle Midwest Region Tournament, going a perfect 2-0 with an 8-3 win over Carthage's Casey Frommen-Natalie Favia and an 8-6 victory over UW-La Crosse's Al Bubilz-Kit Bonre.
 
Barr, Boeve, and Lois also joined teammates Marissa Kinzer (Aitkin, Minn.), Emily Strezishar (East Grand Forks, Minn.), Summer Lardy (Richmond, Minn.), and Ashley Fredrickson (St. James, Minn.) to compete in the opening day of the Gustavus Fall Invitational on Friday.
 
In singles action, Kinzer and Lois both picked up first-round victories—Kinzer beating Concordia's Mikaila Carney 8-3, while Lois collected her first collegiate win with an 8-2 win over Sabine Jacobsen of Concordia (Wis.). Lois continued her winning ways in the next two rounds, rallying from a set down to beat Saint Benedict's Gabbie Noack 1-6, 6-4, 10-7, before dropping St. Scholastica's Elizabeth Fink 6-1, 6-3. Kinzer could not equal that feat, falling in her second match of the day to St. Olaf's Greta Prokosh 6-1, 6-1.
 
Fredrickson, Lardy and Strezishar suffered first-round singles losses, falling 8-6, 8-3, and 8-2, respectively. Lardy regrouped with an 8-4 consolation-round victory over Simpson's Sierra Griffith, before falling to Luther's Devin Bourget, while Strezishar dropped her consolation match 8-3 to UW-Eau Claire's Hannah Koch and Fredrickson won her first consolation match by default, only to fall to Gustavus' Ally Thoreson 8-1.
 
In doubles action at the Gustavus Fall Invitational Friday, Boeve and Fredrickson kicked off the day with a 9-8 (5) victory over St. Norbert's Sarah Bradow/Maddie Uhlenbrauch in the first round.
 
The two tournaments continue Saturday at Gustavus' Swanson Courts.