By Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis coach Jeff Halberg could not have written a better—or more fitting—ending.
 
The Cardinals entered Saturday's season-finale against Hamline searching for its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win of the season. And Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.)—playing in his final collegiate match—made sure that search would end against the Pipers.
 
Deadlocked at 4-4, Giesen—one of five seniors taking the court as Cardinals for the final time—made quick work of Hamline's Christopher Bale, posting a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles to propel Saint Mary's to a 5-4 victory at the U of M Baseline Tennis Center.
 
"This was a big win for the guys," said Halberg. "For Brett, one of five seniors who have been a mainstay of our program for the last  four years, to come up with the clinching win—what a great way for our seniors to finish."
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, getting a 9-7 win from Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid) and Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) at No. 2, and a 9-8 (4) triumph from seniors Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.) and Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.) at No. 3.
 
Tiedemann and Sobczak each added straight-set singles wins—Tiedemann's a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 and Sobczak's a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 4—to set up Giesen's heroics.
 
The Cardinals close out the season with a 1-8 mark in conference play, while going 7-11 overall.