NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's tenins team wasn't able to come away with a season-ending victory against St. Olaf Saturday — but it wasn't due to lack of effort.
 
St. Olaf held off a furious Cardinal charge in dealing SMU a 6-3 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Owatonna Indoor Tennis Center.
 
"I asked the team to give everything they had in their last match — and they did exactly that," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "We gave a very tough St. Olaf a great match.  "I'm very proud of our effort this season."
 
St. Olaf grabbed an early 2-1 lead after the doubles action, with Natalie Peterson (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Elena Ruzevich (Chicago, Ill.) teamed for an 8-7 (7-3) marathon win at No. 1.
 
Emily Dondelinger (Bemidji, Minn.) and Ella Boomgaarden (St. Peter, Minn.) collected the Cardinals' two singles victories, but like Peterson/Ruzevich in doubles, there was nothing easy about it.
 
Dondelinger rallied from a set down to record a 2-6, 7-5, 12-10 victory at No. 3, while Boomgaarden also needed to come from behind, dropping the opening set 6-4, before rallying for 6-1 and 10-6 victories at No. 5.
 
The Cardinals close out the season 2-8 in conference play and 9-10 overall.