OWATONNA, Minn. — Jeff Halberg has experienced his share of “big” wins as the head coach of the Saint Mary’s University men’s tennis team.
But even Halberg admits he’d be hard-pressed to recall a bigger win than Saturday’s 5-4, come-from-behind victory over St. Olaf.
“That could quite possibly be the biggest win in my time here — even bigger than beating St. Thomas four years ago,” said Halberg, after watching his squad win the day’s final two matches to rally from a 4-3 deficit and beat the Oles. “St. Olaf finished second in the (MIAC) last year and for us to come away with a win like this, it say a lot about this team.”
That lead, however, was short-lived, as St. Olaf picked up straight-set wins in the first four singles matches to take a 4-3 lead. Lunka swept past St. Olaf’s Knute Gundersen 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 singles to tie the match, 4-4, and Puff rallied from a first-set loss to beat the Oles’ Nick Hubbard-Peters 1-6, 7-6, 10-6 at No. 5 to seal the win.
“It was a great finish,” said Halberg, whose team won its second match in as many days to improve to 4-3 overall. “Everyone was pretty pumped after Sam won his match.”
Match Summary vs. St. Olaf