ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's tennis team is back on the court on Friday, as the Cardinals square off against third-seeded St. Thomas in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. The SMU-UST match kicks off at noon.

The MIAC Tournament Schedule:
Quarterfinals: Friday, May 3, 2013 | Gustavus * St. Peter, Minn.
No. 3 St. Thomas vs. No. 6 Saint Mary's, Noon | Live Results
No. 4 St. Olaf vs. No. 5 Saint John's, Noon | Live Results
Semifinals: Saturday, May 4, 2013 | Gustavus * St. Peter, Minn.
No. 1 Gustavus vs. lowest remaining seed, 9 a.m.
No. 2 Carleton vs. highest remaining seed, 9 a.m.
Championship: Saturday, May 4, 2013 | Gustavus * St. Peter, Minn.
Semifinal winners, 2:30 p.m.

MIAC Tournament Live On The Web:
Video Preview | Tournament Preview | Tournament Homepage

MIAC Tournament — A Year Ago:
May 4-5, 2012: Gustavus earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship by winning the 2012 MIAC Playoff title with impressive wins over St. Thomas, 5-1 in the semifinals, and Carleton, 5-0 in the championship in St. Peter, Minn. The Gusties defended last year's playoff title, improving to 20-7, and achieved their fifth MIAC postseason championship since the tournament began in 2007 | Recap

MIAC Tournament A Year Ago — By The Numbers
Quarterfinals: Friday, May 4, 2012  | Gustavus * St. Peter, Minn.
No. 3 St. Olaf def. No. 6 Saint John's, 6-3 | Recap
No. 4 St. Thomas def. No. 5 Macalester, 5-2 | Recap
Semifinals: Saturday, May 5, 2012 | Gustavus * St. Peter, Minn.
No. 1 Gustavus def. No. 4 St. Thomas, 5-1 | Recap
No. 2 Carleton def. No. 3 St. Olaf, 5-2 | Recap
Championship: Saturday, May 5, 2012 * Gustavus * St. Peter, Minn.
No. 1 Gustavus def. No. 2 Carleton, 5-0 | Recap

Saint Mary's vs. MIAC Tournament Field — Earlier This Year:
SMU vs. Gustavus | February 16, 2013 | St. Peter, Minn.
The Gusties — the 24-time defending MIAC regular-season champion — swept all six singles matches in straight sets, while dropping just four games in sweeping the three doubles matches and handing SMU a 9-0 conference setback at the Swanson Tennis Center | Recap
SMU vs. Carleton | February 15, 2013 | Winona, Minn.
SMU's season-opening three-match winning streak — the first time in coach Jeff Halberg's 15-year tenure at the helm that the Cardinals had opened the season 3-0 — came to a screeching halt. Carleton, runner-up in the MIAC race a year ago — with its only loss coming to conference-champion Gustavus — proved to be rather ungracious guests, as the Knights handed SMU a 7-2 setback in the teams' conference opener at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
SMU vs. St. Thomas | March 16, 2013 | St. Paul, Minn.
The Cardinals were good — St. Thomas, however, was better. The Tommies, among the top teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season, proved to be too much for the Cardinals to handle, handing SMU an 8-1 conference setback | Recap
SMU vs. Saint John's | April 14, 2013 | Sartell, Minn.
The Johnnies got off to a quick start — winning all three doubles matches — and held off a furious Cardinal comeback in handing SMU a 6-3 conference setback at Fitness Evolution | Recap
SMU vs. St. Olaf | April 6, 2013 | Winona, Minn.
SMU coach Jeff Halberg knew that his Cardinals needed a bounce-back performance when they took the court against St. Olaf. And bounce back they did. The Cardinals, who dropped a disappointing 7-2 conference decision to Bethel two days earlier, rebounded with a 7-2 win of their own, beating St. Olaf at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013 Roster | 2013 Statistics | 2013 Schedule
SMU is making its first appearance in the six-team MIAC Tournament, which began in 2007. … The Cardinals' sixth-place regular-season finish equaled their highest conference finish under head coach Jeff Halberg. … SMU opens tournament play having won 10 of its last 12. … SMU has lost back-to-back matches just once this season, while putting together winning streaks of two (twice), three (three times) and four straight matches. … With their 9-0 victory over North Central on April 20, the Cardinals improved to 13-1 in nonconference play this season. SMU's 6-3, spring trip-opening loss to Ursinus is its lone non-league loss this season. … Collin Kaczorowski (Suamico, Wis.) set a single-season school record with his 20th singles win — a straight-set victory at No. 5 singles against Macalester. … Kaczorowski, who put together a 10-match singles winning streak earlier this season, enters tournament play having won his last six singles matches. … Kaczorowski's 20 singles wins are a team high, while Andrew Rangitsch (Oakdale, Minn.) is second with 16 and Sam Puff (Eden Prairie, Minn. / 15), Bobby Steingraeber (La Crosse, Wis. / 13) and Gavin Smith (White Bear Lake, Minn. / 12) also have 10 or more singles wins. … Kaczorowski and Blake Olmscheid (Farmington, Minn.) each recorded their first collegiate singles win against Wisconsin Lutheran in the team's season-opener on Feb. 8, while Warren Lawrenz (Rochester, Minn.) — who has won his last seven singles matches — notched his first win as a Cardinal against Northwestern on Feb. 23. … The doubles team of Michael Lunka (Eagan, Minn.)-Steingraeber — who earned their second All-MIAC doubles honor in 2012 — are 18-6 at No. 1 doubles this season and have teamed to compile a 59-20 overall doubles record in their four years together . … Steingraeber recorded his single-season school-record 20th doubles win when he teamed with Lunka for an 8-2 win at No. 1 against Macalester last Saturday. … Lunka has notched 18 doubles wins this season, pushing his school-record career wins total to 64 — two more than Steingraeber. … With his 15 singles wins this season, Puff moved into the No. 2 spot in career singles wins with 50. Only Tyler Stevenson (64) has won more singles matches than Puff. … As a team, the Cardinals — who have used 14 different doubles combinations — are 47-22 in dual-match doubles 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 in Halberg's 15 years at the helm. … SMU's 5-4 win over Carroll on Feb. 9 was Halberg's 100th collegiate coaching victory.