WINONA, Minn. — The conditions were perfect — and so was the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team.

The Cardinals cruised to straight-set wins in all six singles matches and dominated the three doubles events en route to a 9-0 nonconference win over Northwestern at the SMU Tennis Center Thursday afternoon.

"It was a perfect day for tennis, and the guys really stepped their games up," said SMU coach Jeff Halberg. "They played with spirit and skill, and, hopefully, that will carry over into Saturday, when we've got two tough matches (against Macalester and Loras)."

The Cardinals did not lose more than four games in any of their 10 singles sets, including straight-set, 6-0, 6-0 wins by Mark Leeder (Greenfield, Wis.) and Tony Miller (Rochester, Minn.) at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively.

"We needed a good, all-around solid performance like this," said Halberg. "The guys really came together and played well."