By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. — Nothing came easy — or quick — for the Saint Mary's University men's tennis Friday evening in its nonconference match against Northwestern.
 
After jumping out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, Saint Mary's saw four of the six singles matches either have one set go to a tie-breaker or a third set — and it was the Cardinals who came away with the marathon win, beating the Eagles 6-3 at Lifetime Fitness.
 
"The guys hung in there and won a long and tough battle," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "It was a good win on a late, late night."
 
Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and Gabe Graves (Littleton, Colo.) posted an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles and Nolan Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) added an 8-1 win at No. 3 to give the Cardinals a quick 2-1 lead.
 
And then the match turned into a marathon rather than a sprint.
 
Sobczak collected a 7-6 win in the second set for a 6-4, 7-6 (6) win at No. 1 singles, while Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) followed suit with a second-set win in a tiebreaker to complete a 6-1, 7-6 (1) victory at No. 3. Janssen delivered a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 triumph at No. 5 and Nolan Smiley locked up the win with a 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory at No. 6.
 
The Cardinals (2-1 overall) are back in action next weekend with three matches in a three-day span. Saint Mary's will face Lawrence at 7 p.m. at Western RC in Green Bay, Wis., on Friday, before heading to the Four Seasons RC in Green Bay, Wis., for an 11 a.m. nonconference match against Ripon the following morning. The Cardinals will then return home to the Winona Tennis Center on Sunday for an 8 a.m. match against UW-Superior. The Eagles (0-1 overall), meanwhile, are back in action on Feb. 8, heading to Sta-Fit in St. Joseph, Minn., for a 1 p.m. nonconference match against Saint John's.