WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team, coming off its first win of the season with a convincing 9-0 nonconference win over Bethany Lutheran Friday evening, was back on the court early Saturday morning.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the outcome wasn't quite the same, as Saint Mary's dropped heartbreaking 5-4 nonconference decision to regionally ranked Luther at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"We played a fantastic match," said Saint Mary's coach Jeff Halberg, noting that the Norse headed into Saturday's showdown ranked No. 15 in the region. "I could not have asked for more from my team.
 
"It was a phenomenal performance," added Halberg, whose team had yet another match on Saturday night, before concluding its four-matches-in-three-days marathon on Sunday against Martin Luther. "The guys gave it everything they had."
 
The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles portion, getting 9-8 victories from Tim Wolford (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Collin Kaczorowski (Suamico, Wis.) at No. 1 and Brenden Amiotte () and Warren Lawrenz (Rochester, Minn.) at No. 3.
 
Wolford and Kaczorowski also collected singles wins at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, with Wolford winning 6-4, 7-6 at No. 1 and Kaczorowski recording a three-set, 7-6, 3-6, 11-9 marathon at No. 2.
 
Luther, however, came up with wins at Nos. 3-4-5-6 singles escape with the 5-4 win.