WINONA, Minn. — To say that the Saint Mary's men's tennis team took the court against Bethany Lutheran with a bit of a chip on its shoulder might be an understatement.
After all, the Cardinals had a score to settle with the Vikings, who snapped SMU's six-match winning streak in the teams' first six meetings with a 5-4 victory a year ago.
Consider the score settled.
Saint Mary's got a three-set marathon win by
Brendon Raabolle (Andover, Minn.) at No. 5 singles to lift the Cardinals to a 5-4, nonconference win over Bethany Lutheran Saturday afternoon at the Winona Tennis Center.
"What an incredible performance from the guys," said Saint Mary's coach
Jeff Halberg. "Huge credit to today's win goes to the play of
Brendon Raabolle at No. 5 singles and
Caden Rodning at No. 6 — they both came through when we needed them most."
Saint Mary's jumped out to 2-1 lead after the doubles portion of the match, getting wins at No. 2 by Raabolle and Rodning and No. 3 by
Philip Apel (North Oaks, Minn.) and
Peter Quinn (Lake Elmo, Minn.).
Bethany Lutheran responded with wins at the first three singles positions to grab 4-2 lead. Rodning evened the match at 4-4 with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 6, leaving it all up to Raabolle — who delivered with a 3-6, 6-4, 12-10 marathon win at No. 5 to seal the come-from-behind win.
The Cardinals (5-4 overall) are back in action on Monday, when they square off against Calvin for the first of three nonconference matches at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. SMU will also face Adrian (Tuesday) and Albion (Thursday) during their spring trip.
