ST. PETER, Minn. — Several members of the Saint Mary's University women's tennis team will be taking part in the USTA-ITA Midwest Region Championships, hosted by Gustavus, beginning Friday and running through Sunday.



USTA-ITA Midwest Region Field:
Carleton, Carthage, Coe, Concordia, Edgewood, Grinnell, Gustavus, Hamline, Lawrence, Luther, St. Catherine, Saint Mary's, St. Olaf, St. Scholastica, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stout, UW-Whitewater

USTA-ITA Midwest Region Draws:
Singles Top Half | Singles Bottom Half | Doubles

USTA-ITA Live On The Web:
Video Preview | Tournament Scoreboard

USTA-ITA Midwest Region Sites:
The Swanson Indoor Tennis Center, located on the west edge of the Gustavus campus in St. Peter, Minn., will serve as headquarters for the USTA/ITA Midwest Region Championships, with matches taking place at Swanson and the adjacent Brown Outdoor Courts.

USTA-ITA Midwest Region This And That:
The USTA/ITA Women's Division III Championships will feature 18 of the top schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend's tournament advance to the Oct. 13-16 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama. … Sixty-five of the top singles and doubles players in the Midwest will take part in the tournament which will begin with singles matches on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. Kathryn Scmidt of Carleton College is the #1 seed in the singles draw. Other seeds include second-seeded Megan Gaard of Gustavus, third seeded Kalla Schaefer of UW-Whitewater, and fourth seeded Michelle Schupbach of Coe College. … The doubles competition will begin on Friday immediately after the completion of the second round of singles play. Kathryn Schmidt and Anne Lombardi of Carleton are the #1 seeded doubles team. The remaining top-four seeds include the second seeded team of Megan Gaard and Alex Erickson of Gustavus, the third seeded team of Hollis McPeek and Kristina Naidicz of Carthage, and the fourth seeded team of Kalla Schaefer and Alexandra Bayliss of UW-Whitewater.

Cardinals at USTA-ITA Midwest Region — A Year Ago:
For the second year in a row, Bailey Edwards (Fond du Lac, Wis.) worked her way to the quarterfinals to highlight the Cardinals' performances at the three-day event. Unfortunately, for the second straight year, the quarterfinals was as far as Edwards would get, as the SMU junior was knocked out by Sam Frank of Gustavus, 7-6, 6-3.

Cardinals Up Next:
The Cardinals kick off their 2012 spring season on Feb. 3, when they host Winona State (4 p.m.) and Northwestern (6 p.m.) at the Winona Tennis Center.

Saint Mary's Cardinals At The Net:
2011 Overall Statistics | 2012 Schedule
For the second year in a row, Bailey Edwards (Fond du Lac, Wis.) earned All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference First-Team honors in both singles and doubles in 2011. … Edwards became SMU's single-season women's wins leader with her three-set win last against Macalester on April 9, giving the Cardinal junior 17 wins at No. 1 singles last season. … Fueled by those 17 wins in 2011, Edwards enters her senior season with a school-record 43 career singles wins. … Edwards also collected 13 doubles wins last season, giving her a school-record 37 doubles victories. … Edwards closed out her junior season ranked No. 18 in the final Central Region regular-season rankings. … Abby Voigt (Burnsville, Minn.) finished second to Edwards in singles wins this season with seven — including a perfect 4-0 mark at No. 4. … Voigt also finished second to Edwards in doubles wins with 10, while fellow junior Andrea Allis had nine. … Coach Halberg used 16 different women's doubles teams combinations last season.