WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's tennis team, back from a 3-1 showing during their spring trip to Orlando, Fla., is back in MIAC action this weekend, hosting Hamline in a 5 p.m. match on Friday, then traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. match against St. Thomas.

The Matchups:
Friday, March 15, 2013 | Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn. | 5 p.m.
SMU Cardinals (0-2 MIAC | 8-3 Overall) vs. Hamline Pipers (0-2 MIAC | 2-5 Overall)
Saturday, Match 16, 2013 | Anderson Fieldhouse * St. Paul, Minn. | 7 p.m.
SMU Cardinals (0-2 MIAC | 8-3 Overall) at St. Thomas Tommies (2-0 MIAC | 4-0 Overall)

GameDay Live On The Web:
Video Preview | Hamline GameDay Program

Last Action:
The Cardinals are coming off a 3-1 showing during their spring trip in Orlando, Fla., including a trip-ending 6-2 nonconference win over Morningside. … Hamline has been off since March 9, when the Pipers dropped back-to-back 9-0 decisions to Gustavus and UW-Whitewater at the Swanson Tennis Center in St. Peter, Minn. … St. Thomas, meanwhile, has also been off since March 9, when the Tommies jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles competition and never looked back in beating St. Olaf 6-3 in Owatonna, Minn.

SMU vs. Hamline — A Year Ago:
March 30, 2012: SMU got off to a flying start and then held on to post a key, 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over Hamline at the HU Courts.

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
April 1, 2012: Michael Lunka (Eagan, Minn.) and Bobby Steingraeber (La Crosse, Wis.) continued their winning ways, but the duo's success was not enough to carry the Cardinals to a win in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against St. Thomas. Lunka and Steingraeber teamed for an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles — their 16th win in 17 matches at No. 1 this season — but it was all UST after that, as St. Thomas won the other two doubles matches to take a 2-1 advantage, then swept all six singles contests in straight sets to beat SMU 8-1 at the Winona Tennis Center.

Up Next:
The Cardinals step out of conference play next Saturday, traveling to the Nielson Tennis Center in Madison, Wis., for nonconference matches against Edgewood (1 p.m.) and Augustana (4 p.m.). … Hamline heads to Orlando, Fla., on March 24-27, squaring off against the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Elmhurst, Luther and Carthage as part of their spring trip, while St. Thomas is also heading south for its spring trip on March 24-28, as the Tommies will face Bethune Cookman, the University of Chicago, Virginia Wesleyan and Concordia-Wis. in Hilton Head, S.C.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
With their wins over Kings (7-2), Berry (8-1) and Morningside (6-2), the Cardinals head into this weekend's conference matches riding a three-match winning streak. … SMU's three wins during their spring break trip also pushed their record to 8-1 in nonconference matches this season. SMU's 6-3, spring trip-opening loss to Ursinus is its lone non-league loss this season. … Collin Kaczorowski (Suamico, Wis.) and Warren Lawrenz (Rochester, Minn.) were each unbeaten in singles play during SMU's spring trip and head into this weekend's matches riding five-match singles winning streaks. … Kaczorowski owns a team-best nine singles-match wins, while Sam Puff (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Bobby Steingraeber (La Crosse, Wis.) are second with seven wins each. … Lunka-Steingraeber — who earned their second All-MIAC doubles honor in 2012 — improved to 26-4 in their last 30 doubles matches with their 7-2 start to the season. The seven doubles wins are a team-best. … Andrew Rangitsch (Oakdale, Minn.) and Kaczorowski are a perfect 4-0 at No. 3 doubles. … Kaczorowski and Olmscheid (Farmington, Minn.) each recorded their first collegiate singles win against Wisconsin Lutheran in the team's season-opener on Feb. 8, while Lawrenz notched his first win as a Cardinal against Northwestern on Feb. 23. … Lawrenz is a perfect 5-0 in singles play this season. … Rangitsch set a single-day school record with five wins during the opening day of the Gustavus Midwest Open last fall, reaching the quarterfinals, as he dropped a two-and-a-half hour, three-set, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 decision to Saint John's Alex Weigmann. … With their wins over Wisconsin Lutheran, Concordia (Wis.) and Carroll, the Cardinals opened the season 3-0 for the first time under 15-year head coach Jeff Halberg. … SMU's 5-4 win over Carroll on Feb. 9 was Halberg's 100th collegiate coaching victory.

Scouting the Hamline Pipers:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
With their losses to Gustavus and UW-Whitewater, the Pipers enter the weekend in the midst of a three-match losing streak. … HU's losses to GAC and UW-Whitewater marked the first times this season the Pipers have been shut out. … Hamline is still searching for its first road win of the season, having gone 0-4 in its first four road matches. … David Croonquist enters the weekend as Hamline's top player, boasting a 5-2 record at No. 1 singles, while Nathan Tretsven is second on the team in singles wins with three. … Hamline dropped just one match in its two wins combined — beating Simpson 8-1 and Bethany Lutheran 9-0.

Scouting the St. Thomas Tommies:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
The Tommies head into the weekend boasting a season-opening four-match winning streak. … After opening the season with back-to-back 9-0 wins over UW-La Crosse and Northwestern, UST dropped Macalester (7-2) and St. Olaf (6-3). … The Tommies, winners of 11 matches in 2012, were picked to finish third in the MIAC preseason poll. … UST is a perfect 12-0 in doubles play this season with sweeps of UW-La Crosse, Northwestern, Macalester and St. Olaf. … Brendan O'Connell is 4-0 in doubles competition. He's been a model of consistency in his career with near identical records in singles (32-14) and doubles (34-12). He's on pace to play his 100th match later this month. … Allen-Michael Muench is 13-4 in singles and 15-4 in doubles in his UST career. … In his first season with the Tommies, Brady Radermacher is 4-0 in doubles and 3-1 in singles.