WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team would have been hard-pressed to script a better season-opening performance than the one that put together Friday evening.
 
Squaring off against Northwestern — the reigning Upper Midwest Athletic Conference champion — the Cardinals were unfazed, rolling to a 9-0 sweep of the Eagles at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"The ladies came out with fire and consistency," said Saint Mary's women's coach Jeff Halberg. "Northwestern came in as the reigning champs in the UMAC, and our squad wasn't intimidated in the least.
 
"They all played great."
 
The Cardinals grabbed the early momentum by sweeping the three doubles matches, winning 8-4 at both No. 1 and No. 2, while getting an 8-2 win from Maddie Dosser (South St. Paul, Minn.) and Emily Henderson (Jordan, Minn.) at No. 3.
 
And SMU picked up right where it left on in singles, dropping just si20 games in sweeping all six matches in straight sets — including a 6-1, 6-0 win from Natalie Peterson (St. Cloud, Minn.) at No. 1 and a 6-1, 6-1 victory by Zoie Becker (St. James, Minn.) at No. 4.
 
The Cardinals (1-0 overall) are right back in action — and right back on the Winona Tennis Center courts — on Saturday, entertaining another UMAC opponent, Martin Luther, in a 12:30 p.m. nonconference match.