WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University and Bethel tennis teams found themselves trending on opposite ends of the spectrum entering Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match.
 
The Royals took the courts riding a two-match winning streak, while the Cardinals were coming off back-to-back losses to Albion and Concordia.
 
And, unfortunately, despite a gallant showing by the Cardinals, both streaks remained intact when the final point was recorded at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Philip Apel (North Oaks, Minn.) both put in a little overtime in winning marathon three-setter, but Bethel was just too much to handle, as the Royals dealt SMU a 7-2 setback at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"I asked the guys to go toe-to-toe with a very talented Bethel squad, and they really did fight — right to the end," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "It was a good match, and a great effort from our guys, we just couldn't get over the hump."
 
Bethel grabbed the upper hand early, sweeping through the three doubles matches, and collecting straight-set wins in the first four singles contests.
 
Smiley delivered a hard-fought, 7-5, 4-6, 15-13 victory at No. 5 singles and Apel rallied from a set down to post a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8 victory at No. 6 to account for the Cardinals two victories.
 
The Cardinals (0-4 MIAC, 5-9 overall) are now off until April 6-7. SMU will face St. Scholastica in a 1:30 p.m. MIAC contest at the Winona Tennis Center on April 6, before heading to Inner City Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for an 11:30 a.m. matchup against Hamline the following day.