GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University men's tennis team found itself in a fight-to-the-finish battle in its nonconference match against St. Norbert Sunday morning.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Green Knights pulled out a three-set victory at No. 2 singles — including a 12-10 win in the super-set — to pull out the 5-4 victory over Saint Mary's Sunday at the Green Bay Tennis Center.
"It was a heartbreaker, that's for sure," said Saint Mary's coach
Jeff Halberg. "We rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie the match at 4-4, but (St. Norbert) was able to pull it out with a marathon win at No. 2 singles to earn the win.
"It was a tremendous weekend," added Halberg, whose team opened its three-match weekend with back-to-back wins over Lawrence (9-0) and Ripon (8-1) on Saturday). "It was just a tough loss to end it."
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, with
Caden Rodning (Mason City, Iowa)/
Brendon Raabolle (Andover, Wis.) winning 8-3 at No. 2 and
Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.)/
Matt Besek (Winona, Minn.) adding an 8-7 victory at No. 3.
St. Norbert rallied in the early singles, grabbing a 4-2 lead with straight-set wins at Nos. 1, 5, and 6, but Saint Mary's respond, pulling even with three-set marathon victories by Janssen at No. 3 and
Tucker Stene (Fridley, Minn.) at No. 4. Janssen rallied from a set down to post a 3-6, 6-0, 10-6 victory, while Stene nearly duplicated that feat with a 4-6, 6-0, 10-5 triumph.
In the decisive match, SMU's
E.J. Hietala (Duluth, Minn.) and SNC's Adam Stacko split the first two sets at No. 2 singles, only to have Stacko rally from a 10-9 deficit to come away with the 7-4, 2-6, 12-10 victory.
The Cardinals (3-2 overall) are back in action next Saturday, playing host to the University of Dubuque in a 1:30 p.m. nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center.
