WINONA, Minn. – The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team played its third straight match decided by a 9-0 decision Sunday afternoon.
 
This time around, however, the Cardinals came out on the short end, as conference-power Gustavus dealt Saint Mary's its first loss of the season, 9-0, in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opener at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"I am very pleased with the day overall," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "We played some great tennis across-the-board and four of the matches were very close. If we can stay injury free, we are exactly where we want to be."
 
The Gustavus jumped out to the early 3-0 lead, sandwiching 8-2 victories at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles around an 8-6 victory at No. 2.
 
Saint Mary's Ashley Renwick (Farmington, Minn.) forced a third set in her match at No. 3 singles, before falling 7-5, 3-6, 10-4, while Natalie Peterson (St. Cloud, Minn.) dropped a second-set tie-breaker in her 6-2, 7-6 (5) loss at No. 1.
 
The Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 2-1 overall) are back in action next weekend, playing host to UW-Superior for a 6 p.m. nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center on Friday, before welcoming Loras to the Winona TC for a 4:30 p.m. contest the following afternoon.
 
 
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