GREEN BAY, Wis. — With three matches in less than 24 hours, Saint Mary's University men's tennis coach Jeff Halberg was looking for his Cardinals to get off to a fast start.
 
The SMU head coach got his wish, as the Cardinals kicked off their nonconference weekend in impressive fashion, sweeping through the six singles matches in securing an 8-1 victory over Ripon Friday afternoon at the Green Bay Tennis Club.
 
"That performance was a great way to start the weekend," said Halberg. "The courts were a little faster than we are used to, but the guys did a good job of adjusting and played very well throughout."
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches — getting an 804 win from Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.) and Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) at No. 1 and an 8-2 triumph by E.J. Hietala (Duluth, Minn.) and Peter Quinn (Lake Elmo, Minn.) at No. 2.
 
And then the Cardinals turned up the heat.
 
Kurilla Janssen, Hietala, and Brendon Raabolle (Andover, Minn.) all recorded straight-set singles wins — dropping just a combined 13 games in the process — while Quinn and Tucker Stene (Fridley, Minn.) both rallied from a set down to record three-set victories. Quinn won 3-6, 6-1, 10-6 at No. 4 singles, while Stene added a 4-6, 6-1, 10-8 win at No. 6.
 
The Cardinals (2-2 overall) are right back in action on Friday, returning to the Green Bay Tennis Club for a 7 p.m. matchup against Lawrence, before closing out their Green Bay stay with a 3 p.m. contest against St. Norbert on Saturday.