By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ST. PETER, Minn. — As if playing several matches in a day wasn't enough for the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team, the Cardinals decided to play a little "extra" tennis during Friday's opening day of the ITA Midwest Regional and Midwest Open.
 
Three of Saint Mary's seven opening-round singles matches — and four matches overall between the two tournaments — were extended to a third set Friday. Unfortunately, only one was able to come out on top.
 
Alec Rudh (Hastings, Minn.) opened his ITA singles match against Jose Mancilla with a 6-3 victory, but dropped the next two sets, 6-4, 6-2, while Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) suffered the same fate in their opening matches at the Midwest Open. Both Smiley and Janssen opened their matches with 6-4 wins, but Smiley fell 7-6 (4), 10-4 in Sets 2 and 3 against Macalester's Michael Lockhart, and Janssen was beaten 6-3, 10-3 in his last two sets against Andrew Jenson of Bethel.
 
Brandon Johnson (St. James, Minn.) decided to dip his foot into the three-set pool during his second round match at the Midwest Open — with much more positive results. The sophomore — fresh off a 6-2, 6-3 win over the University of Dubuque's Brady Montyre — bounced back from a 6-2 loss in the opening set to beat Wartburg's Alexander Jedicka-Kinz 6-2, 10-7 to move into the third round. That's where Johnson's run ended, however, as he dropped a 6-1, 6-1 to St. Thomas' Garrett Manquist.
 
In ITA Midwest Regional doubles action, Rudh teamed with Gabe Graves (Littleton, Colo.) — who dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision to Sam Dietrich of UW-La Crosse in his singles match earlier in the day — to beat Wartburg's Grant Kincaid/Lucas Huffman 8-6. The Cardinal duo fell short in their second match, however, losing to Gustavus' Alex Budde/Jack Bergmeyer 8-1
 
Nolan Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) opened Midwest Open play with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Zachary Thompson of Northwestern, before falling to Bethel's Luke Wyle 6-2, 7-5 in the second round. The sophomore then teamed with Janssen in an 8-1 loss to Carroll's Brian Trefleck/Luke Barter, 8-1.
 
Day 2 of the three-day event in St. Peter, Minn., kicks off Saturday morning at 9 a.m.