WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. — For the first time in 10 matches, Friday evening's end result against Macalester was not a 9-0 sweep for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team.
Fortunately for coach
Jeff Halberg, the first non-9-0 decision—a 6-3 victory —had the Cardinals coming out with the win.
"This was a big tilt, and we played very well when it really mattered," said coach
Jeff Halberg. "The gals had excellent practices all week long, and they carried that right into the match—it was a big win."
The Cardinals opened with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles—as
Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) and
Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.) posted an 8-4 win at No. 1 and
Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.) and
Marissa Kinzer (Aitkin, Minn.) added an 9-2 win at No. 3.
The Cardinals then sealed the win with victories in four of the six singles matches, highlighted by come-from-behind wins by Sonday (0-6, 6-2, 10-5) at No. 1 and Jorgensen (1-6, 6-2, 10-8) at No. 5.
Vandenberg (6-0, 6-2) and
Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis. / 6-3, 7-5) added straight-set singles wins to ice the victory.
The Cardinals (3-3 MIAC, 7-3 overall) are back in action next weekend, as Saint Mary's entertains St. Catherine in a 4:30 p.m. conference matchup at the Winona Tennis Center on Friday, before heading to the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center for a 6:30 p.m. showdown with Bethel the following day.
