ST. PETER, Minn. — A year ago, Mark Leeder (Greenfield, WIs.) and Tyler Stevenson (Neenah, Wis.) snuck up on the rest of the ITA Midwest Regional field.

The Cardinal duo, who went 12-7 as SMU's No. 1 doubles team during that 2003 spring season, picked up three straight regional victories, before falling in the quarterfinals.

This year, the pair teamed up again, and for the second straight season, Leeder and Stevenson reached the tournament's quarterfinals, where, for the second straight year, a team from Gustavus put an end to their run.

The ITA Midwest Region Championships are one of eight regional tournaments for Division III men taking place across the country over the last week of September and first week of October. The singles and doubles champions from these regional tournaments advance to the ITA National Small College Championships, presented by the USTA, Oct. 16-19 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Leeder and Stevenson, who were the No. 10 seed, received a first-round bye, before posting an 8-4 win over the team of Claudio Bravo-Brian Laumeyer of Gustavus in the second round. The two then earned a berth in the quarterfinals with an 8-5 victory over UW-La Crosse's Grant Bernard-Jeff Strand.

In the quarters, however, Leeder and Stevenson were derailed by Gustavus' No. 3-seeded team of Jesse Brauer and Ben Lundell.

"Overall, it was a good weekend," said SMU coach Jeff Halberg, noting that Stevenson also reached the third round in singles — winning his second-round match, 3-6, 6-1, 10-4, before falling to Gustavus' Roy Bryan, 2-6, 7-6, 10-8 in the third round, while Leeder dropped a 6-1, 6-1 second-round match to Will Butzlaff of Gustavus. "Tyler had a good showing in singles, and Mark and Tyler lived up to their seeding in the doubles portion.

"I was very pleased with their efforts and I look forward to more of the same type of success in the upcoming spring season."