ST. PETER, Minn. — There's something about playing tennis in the fall that brings out the best in Saint Mary's University E.J. Hietala (Duluth, Minn.).
 
A year ago, Hietala put together a perfect 3-0 run during the singles portion of the ITA Regional/Midwest Open, before weather forced the cancellation of the remainder of the event.
 
Fast-forward a year, and Hietala was at it again — and so was Mother Nature.
 
Due to weather issues early in the day, Hietala had to wait nearly nine hours from his scheduled singles start time to finally get on the court Friday afternoon — but the wait was worth it, as the senior rattled off back-to-back singles victories in the Midwest Open.
 
Unfortunately, Hietala's bid for singles win No. 3 fell short on Saturday, as he dropped an 8-2 decision to Gustavus' Pedro Gomes-Menezes in the Cardinals' lone match of the day.
 
In Friday's action, Hietala opened with back-to-back wins over Harper Dick of St. Scholastica and UW-Superior's Mateus Silvestre, while Evan Huemoeller (Owatonna, Minn.) collected SMU's only other singles win with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Cornell's Alex Hadler-Strumiauf.
 
Things didn't go so well for the rest of the Cardinals, however, as Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.), Peter Quinn (Lake Elmo, Minn.), Matt Besek (Winona, Minn.), and Tucker Stene (Fridley, Minn.) fell at the Midwest Open, and Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) suffered an opening-round 6-1, 6-1 loss at the ITA Regional.
 
In (very) late-night doubles action Friday, all four doubles teams — Hietala/Huemoeller, Kurilla/Janssen, Quinn/Besek, and Raabolle/Stene — came out on the short end.
 
The Cardinals are back on the courts on Saturday for the second day of the ITA Regional/Midwest Open — including consolation singles and doubles action.
 
ITA REGIONAL
Singles
Brandon Kurilla lost to Aswath Viswanathan (Carleton), 6-1, 6-0
Evan Huemoeller defeated Alex Hadler-Strumiauf (Cornell), 6-4, 6-4
Evan Huemoeller lost to Max Loen (Luther), 6-1, 6-0
Josh Janssen lost to R.J. Griffith (UW-Eau Claire), 6-1, 6-1
 
Doubles
E.J. Hietala/Evan Huemoeller lost to Jordon Doi/Anton Korolev (Macalester), 8-3
Brandon Kurilla/Josh Janssen lost to Sam Rudenberg/Aiden Klass (Grinnell), 8-6
 
Midwest Open
Singles
Brenden Raabolle lost to Stepan Chernegov (Bethany Lutheran), 8-5
Peter Quinn lost to Jacob Weddle (Northwestern), 8-1
E.J. Hietala defeated Harper Dicks (St. Scholastica), 8-4
E.J. Hietala defeated Mateus Silvestre (UW-Superior), 8-7 (8)
E.J. Hietala lost to Pedro Gomes-Menezes (Gustavus), 8-2
Matt Besek lost to Luka Shaker (Grinnell), 8-1
Tucker Stene lost to Noah Mueller (Carleton), 8-6
 
Doubles
Peter Quinn/Matt Besek lost to Harry Hawbaker/Grant Idoux (Coe), 8-1
Brenden Raabolle/Tucker Stene lost Noah Mueller/Jack Rivkin (Carleton), 8-2