By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ORLANDO, Fla. — It wasn't quite the way Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis coach Jeff Halberg was hoping his team would kick off its spring trip — but the Cardinal head coach was proud of the effort.
 
The travel-weary Cardinals, who had to had to overcome flight delays and lack of sleep, could not get their game on track against NCAA Division II Davenport (Mich.) University, falling to the Panthers 6-1 Monday morning.
 
"We played a solid match against a tough NCAA Division II opponent," said Halberg, whose team played by NCAA Division II rules — in which the three doubles matches combined to count as one point — thus the non-traditional 6-1 final score. "Despite the face that we had a light flight in and only three hours of sleep, the ladies played some solid tennis.
 
"I'm proud of the effort put forth today."
 
 The Panthers won two of the three doubles matches, with Saint Mary's Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) and Ashley Frederickson (St. James, Minn.) winning by forfeit at No. 3.
 
Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) dropped a three-set, 1-6, 7-5, 10-4 marathon at No. 3 singles, with Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) fell in a tiebreaker in the opening set of her 7-6, 6-1 loss at No. 1 singles. Madyson Schreiber () picked up Saint Mary's lone singles victory, again by forfeit.
 
The Cardinals (2-5 overall) are right back in action on Tuesday, squaring off against Hanover in a 6 p.m. (EST) nonconference match.