WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis coach Jeff Halberg knew his Cardinals were in for a knock-down, drag-out battle in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against St. Olaf Saturday afternoon.
 
How right he was.
 
And, when the dust finally settled, it was the Cardinals who were still standing, as Saint Mary's outlasted the Oles 6-3 in a marathon match at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
"This was a big win for our guys," said Halberg. "It came down to the last few minutes, but Alex (Zuzek) finally came up with the clincher (with a three-set victory at No. 5 singles) to give us the win.
 
"It was a great, overall team win."
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles competition, getting wins fro Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.)/Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) at No. 2 and Zuzek/Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) at No. 3.
 
The Cardinals sealed the win with wins in four of the six singles matches—including three-set victories by Zuzek at No. 5 and Sobczak at No. 6. Zuzek posted a 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 win, while Sobczak added a 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 triumph at No. 6.
 
The Cardinals (2-6 MIAC, 8-7 overall) return home to the Winona Tennis Center on April 19, entertaining Northwestern in a 4:30 p.m. nonconference match.