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Cardinals can't catch a break in dropping 8-1 decision to Warriors
WINONA, Minn. — The final score says the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team suffered an 8-1 loss to Winona State.
But look a little deeper, and the outcome was not nearly as lopsided as the final score might indicate.
"We just couldn't catch a break," said SMU coach Jeff Halberg, whose team was trailing 2-1 after the three doubles matches, then dropped all six singles matches — including three that went the maximum three sets. "This was such a tough match — even though it might not look that way with the final score, but this really was a match that could have gone either way."
Steve Grundhoefer (St. Paul, Minn.) and Steve Clements (La Crosse, Wis.) picked up SMU's lone win, posting an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles. Tony Miller (Rochester, Minn.), David Reckase (La Crosse, Wis.) and Clements were all hard-luck losers in singles competition, as Miller and Reckase each won the opening set, only to lose the final two, while Clements rebounded from a 6-3, first-set loss to win the second set 6-3, only to lose in the decisive third set, 10-6.
"I was proud of the way the guys battled from start to finish," said Halberg. "Hopefully that bodes well for us in future matches. It would have been nice to come away with a win, but I think we're playing some pretty good tennis, so that's encouraging."