OWATONNA, Minn. — To say that the Saint Mary's University women's tennis team has had the upper hand in its head-to-head matchup against Hamline of late would be a bit of an understatement.
Dominated would be more like it.
Saint Mary's ran its winning streak against the Pipers to 15 in a row on Saturday, as the Cardinals — who have not lost to HU since March 4, 2001 — made it look easy in breezing to a 9-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.
"The ladies started fast and just kept it rolling," said Saint Mary's coach
Jeff Halberg. "It was a great day to be a Cardinal."
The Cardinals flexed their muscles from the first serve and quickly cruised to a 3-0 lead — with
Natalie Peterson (St. Cloud, Minn.) and
Emily Henderson (Jordan, Minn.) dropping just two games in winning 8-2 at No. 1, while
Maddie Dosser (South St. Paul, Minn.) and
Kailee Johnson (Rochester, Minn.) followed suit with a dominating 8-1 win at No. 2. SMU earned a forfeit win at No. 3 doubles for the commanding lead heading to singles play.
And as good as they were in doubles, the Cardinals were even better in singles, winning all four contested matches in straight sets — 6-1, 6-2 by Peterson at No. 1, 6-1, 6-4 by
Kennedy Morgan (Green Bay, Wis.) at No. 2), 6-1, 6-0 by
Zoie Becker (St. James, Minn.) at No. 3, and 6-0, 6-1 by
Maggie Frye (Colorado Springs, Colo.) at No. 4
The Cardinals (4-4 MIAC, 11-6 overall), who remained in the thick of the MIAC Playoff race with the victory — their fourth in their last five contests — are right back in action on Sunday, playing host to regionally-ranked Carleton in a 2 p.m. MIAC matchup at the Winona Tennis Center.
