By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) did all he could do to carry the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team to a win over St. Olaf in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match Friday evening.
 
Unfortunately, Smiley's two wins were not enough to carry the Cardinals past the Oles.
 
St. Olaf jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches — including a pair of tiebreaker wins at Nos. 2 and 3 — and picked up straight-set wins in four of the six singles matches in dealing the Cardinals a 6-3 setback at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"I told (St. Olaf coach) Scott Nesbit that I feared the match had been decided after doubles," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "We played veyr well in doubles, but just couldn't get over the hump in those two matches (at No. 2 and No. 3) that went into tiebreakers.

"We fought very hard in singles, but we just couldn't overcome that 2-1 deficit."

Smiley teamed with Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) to posed an 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles, but Alec Rudh (Hastings, Minn.)/Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.) and Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.)/Gabe Graves (Columbine, Minn.) weren't as fortunate, as the Cardinal duos both dropped heartbreaking 8-7 decisions at No. 2 and No. 3 to give St. Olaf a 2-1 lead heading into singles play.
 
Smiley picked up his second win of the evening with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles, and Kurilla polished off St. Olaf's Tony Klagge in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 to account for the Cardials' two singles victories.
 
The Cardinals (0-5 MIAC, 4-7 overall) hit the road next Saturday, March 23, heading to Gustavus' Swanson Indoor Tennis Center in St. Peter, Minn., for a 10:30 a.m. conference showdown against the Gusties, before returning home to the Winona Tennis Center for a 9 a.m. MIAC matchup against Concordia the following morning.