ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team closes out its 2013 season with a pair of road matches this weekend, traveling to Macalester for a 12:30 p.m. MIAC contest, before heading to St. Joseph, Minn., for a noon showdown against Saint Benedict on Sunday.

The Matchups:
Saturday, April 27, 2013 | Hayden Courts * St. Paul, Minn. | 12:30 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-6 MIAC | 10-8 Overall) at Macalester Scots (0-7 MIAC | 2-13 Overall)
Sunday, April 28, 2013 | CSB Outdoor Courts * St. Joseph, Minn. | Noon
Saint Cardinals (2-6 MIAC | 10-8 Overall) at Saint Benedict Blazers (3-5 MIAC | 9-7 Overall)

Last Action:
The Cardinals picked up three wins last weekend, beating Concordia 8-1 in a conference match at the Winona Tennis Center on Saturday, before dropping UW-River Falls 8-1 and UW-Stout 7-2 in back-to-back nonconference matches on Sunday in River Falls, Wis. … Macalester dropped back-to-back conference matches earlier this week, falling to St. Catherine 9-0 at Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville, Minn., on Wednesday, before dropping an 8-1 decision to St. Olaf at the Hayden Courts in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday. … Saint Benedict is coming off a heartbreaking 5-4 nonconference loss to St. Scholastica at Fitness Revolution in Sartell, Minn., on Tuesdayu.

SMU vs. Macalester — A Year Ago:
April 22, 2012: Four of the six singles matches went into a third-set tiebreaker, and another had a first-set tiebreaker that was decided by a 14-12 decision — the match just couldn't get much closer. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the Scots who left the Winona Tennis Center with smiles on their faces, as Macalester outlasted the Cardinals 5-4.

SMU vs. Saint Benedict — A Year Ago:
March 31, 2012: SMU had the upper hand at the top of the order in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Saint Benedict. But it was the Blazers' depth that proved to be too much, as CSB — despite the efforts of Bailey Edwards (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and sister McKennah Edwards — handed the Cardinals a 6-3 setback at the Winona Tennis Center.

Up Next:
This weekend's matches against Macalester and Saint Benedict mark the end of the 2013 season for the Cardinals. … Saint Benedict's two weekend matches against Gustavus and Saint Mary's are the final matches of the year for the Blazers. … Macalester, which plays Saint Mary's and Concordia this weekend, closes out its season on Tuesday against Hamline in St. Paul, Minn.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
With their win over UW-Stout last Sunday, the Cardinals improved to 10-8, marking the second straight season, and the eighth time in the last 10 years, that SMU has won 10 or more matches. … The Cardinals head into the final weekend of the season riding a season-high four-match winning streak. … Deanne Webber (Reedsburg, Wis.) and Leanne Cleveland (Rochester, Minn.) enter the weekend riding five-match winning streaks. … With her two three wins last weekend, Webber pushed her team-leading singles win total to 13. … Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.) is second on the team with nine singles wins, followed by Lindsey Reinisch (Hastings, Minn.) with eight, and Cleveland and Rachel Luetmer (Loretto, Minn.) with seven each. … Stacy Buss (Chicago, Ill.) collected her first collegiate win with a straight-set victory at No. 6 singles against Bethany Lutheran on April 13. Buss is the fifth player to record collegiate win No. 1 this season, joining Krull, Cleveland, Kirsten Hoffmann (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Lexi Felten (Waukesha, Wis.). … The Cardinals' 53 singles wins this season have come from nine different players. … Webber and Grace Zachman (Hastings, Minn.) share the team lead with nine doubles wins, one more than Reinisch, and two better than Hoffman and Felten. … The Cardinals have used 11 different doubles combinations this season. … The Cardinals' win over Bethany Lutheran on April 13 was their first 9-0 sweep of the season. … SMU's 8-1 loss to Berry on March 5 snapped the Cardinals' five-match nonconference winning streak — a streak that dated back to a 5-4 loss to Michigan Tech on April 14, 2012. … With their 7-2 win over Bemidji State on Feb. 2, the Cardinals have now won their season opener in two of the last three years — with both wins coming against Bemidji State, and both wins by 7-2 decisions.

Scouting the Macalester Scots:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
Saturday's match against Saint Mary's is the second of three straight home matches for the Scots. … The Scots' 8-1 loss to St. Olaf on Thursday pushed their losing streak to seven straight. Macalester enters Saturday's match vs. Saint Mary's looking for its first win since beating Bloomsburg (Pa.) 5-4 on March 17 in Hilton Head, S.C. … Paige Schaefer and Carmen Whitehead own a team-best five singles wins. … Schaefer has recorded all four of Macalester's wins at No. 1 singles, while Whitehead has accounted for four of the team's five wins at No. 3 singles. … The doubles teams of Whitehead/Katelyn and Schaefer/Gabby Gueenan own a team-leading three doubles wins and have combined to collect six of the Scots' nine doubles wins this season. … Macalester has used 17 different doubles combinations this season.

Scouting the Saint Benedict Blazers:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
The Blazers' 5-4 loss to St. Scholastica Tuesday — their final nonconference match of the season — pushed CSB's losing streak to four straight. … Prior to their current four-match slide, the Blazers had won seven of their previous eight matches. … Three of CSB's six singles matches against St. Scholastica Tuesday went the maximum three sets, while another went into a first-set tiebreaker. … Ellie Black and Daley Ruper head into the weekend as the Blazers' singles wins leaders with 11,
Two more than Beth Richmond and three better than Aly Dahlquist. … As a team, Saint Benedict owns a 56-37 singles record. … Victoria Beach has compiled a team-leading 11 doubles wins, including a 9-3 record at No. 2. … Jamie Hoffman is second to Beach with 10 wins, and is 9-6 at No. 1 doubles — with all nine wins coming when paired with Ruper.