WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's tennis team put themselves behind the eight ball early in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against St. Scholastica.
 
And the Cardinal never recovered.
 
St. Scholastica jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion of the teams conference matchup at the Winona Tennis Center, and picked up straight-set wins in five of the six singles matches in dealing the Cardinals an 8-1 setback Saturday.
 
"Give St. Scholastica credit — they played a great match," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg. "Evan put together a phenomenal performance at No. 1 singles, but we just couldn't recover from a slow start."
 
After falling 8-5, 8-6, and 8-0 in the three doubles matches, the Cardinals could not seem to slow down the high-powered Saints when the match transitioned to singles.
 
Evan Huemoeller (Owatonna, Minn.) picked up SMU's lone win, winning a marathon, 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 three-setter at No. 1 singles.
 
The Cardinals (0-5 MIAC, 5-10 overall) are back in action on Sunday, heading to InnerCity Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for an 11:30 a.m. MIAC matchup against Hamline.