By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — It's been an early-season rollercoaster ride for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team this season.
 
The Cardinals opened with a high-flying, 6-3 win over Martin Luther last Friday, only to suffer a 9-0 setback to high-powered Carleton in the team' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener the following afternoon.
 
Friday evening, the Cardinals were once again flying high, as Saint Mary's picked up its second win of the season, dropping Northwestern — an NCAA national tournament qualifier a year ago — 7-2 in a nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"This was a great win for the guys," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "Northwestern went to the NCAA national tournament as the UMAC automatic qualifier and we had to play some great tennis to beat them.
 
"It was a good day for Cardinal tennis."
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles competition, as Bobby Tiedeman (Euclid, Minn.)/Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.), Alec Rudh (Hastings, Minn.)/Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.), and Gabe Graves (Columbine, Colo.)/Brandon Jonson (St. James, Minn.) posted 8-2, 8-6, 8-2 victories, respectively.
 
It was more of the same in singles, as Tiedeman, Smiley, Kurilla, and Graves came away with straight-set victories. Rudh was a hard-luck loser at No. 1 singles, falling to Northwestern's Landon Ridpath 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-7.
 
The Cardinals (2-1 overall) will play their first road match of the season on Feb. 9, heading to Gustavus' Swanson Indoor Tennis Center in St. Peter, Minn., for a nonconference, neutral-site match against St. Scholastica.