Article reprinted courtesy of Winona Daily News and reporter Landon Evanson.

WINONA, Minn. — Four seasons ago as freshmen, Michael Lunka (Eagan, Minn.) and Bobby Steingraeber (La Crosse, Wis.) pledged to lead the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team to at least one MIAC Tournament.

Now as seniors, the SMU doubles tandem has played an enormous role in fulfilling that goal as the Cardinals qualified for their first MIAC tournament since it went to a six-team format in 2007. The tournament will be held Friday and Saturday in St. Peter, Minn., at Gustavus Adolphus College.

“Without a doubt, this is the best doubles team that Saint Mary's has ever fielded,” SMU coach Jeff Halberg said.

Their statistics don't lie.

Lunka is SMU's all-time leader for doubles wins (64), while Steingraeber set the single-season mark for doubles victories (20) one season ago.
This season, the pair has teamed up for an 18-6 mark.

“To be together that long and to play as a pairing and that many matches is actually pretty unusual for collegiate tennis,” Halberg said. “It makes my job so much easier because, really, there's very little coaching that I have to do with them, anymore. They pretty much know what they need to accomplish and what they're capable of.”

It's that type of determination and confidence that has the doubles partners convinced that they can beat St. Thomas in the first round of the MIAC tournament. That would be a pretty big turnaround as the Tommies beat SMU 8-1 on March 16.

“I really feel like the first time (against St. Thomas), we had an off day,” Steingraeber said. “I feel like we didn't give them our best shot, and right now we're playing some of our best tennis of the season.

“We're going into this match thinking we can win.”

And as Halberg pointed out, tennis is about believing in yourself.

“Tennis is all about confidence and believing you can accomplish something. And they do,” Halberg said.

Besides, time is running short.

“It's our last run,” Lunka said. “All the seniors want to finish strong, end on a high note. This is one of the strongest teams SMU has ever had. We can beat St. Thomas.”

Halberg points to the tandem — and doubles in general — as a key to a potential upset of St. Thomas.

“In the wins we've had, we started well in doubles,” Halberg said. “In tough losses, we've started slow. I think a lot of it's going to come down to how fast we start (in doubles).”

When it comes to Lunka and Steingraeber, Halberg referred to them as “our go-to guys.”

“We're the six seed, there's no pressure on us,” Steingraeber said. “We're just gonna go out and bleed Saint Mary's red on the court.”