WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team is back in action this weekend, as the Cardinals host St. Catherine in a 6 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match at the Winona Tennis Center, before heading to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 5 p.m. conference showdown with Bethel on Saturday.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, February 13, 2015 | Winona Tennis Center | 6 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1 MIAC | 2-1 Overall) vs. St. Catherine Wildcats (0-0 MIAC | 2-0 Overall)
Saturday, February 14, 2015 | U of M Baseline Tennis Center * Minneapolis, Minn. | 5 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1 MIAC | 2-1 Overall) vs. Bethel Royals (1-0 MIAC | 3-1 Overall
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Video Preview | St. Catherine GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals picked up a pair of convincing nonconference wins at the Winona Tennis Center last weekend, as Saint Mary's blanked Bethany Lutheran 9-0 last Friday, while adding a second 9-0 victory over Martin Luther on Sunday | BLC Recap * MLC Recap
• St. Catherine: The Wildcats picked up a pair of season-opening victories last Friday, edging Northwestern (Minn.) 5-4, before blanking UM-Duluth 9-0 at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn. | Recap
• Bethel: The Royals kicked off their season in impressive fashion, cruising to a 9-0 victory over Concordia in the teams' conference opener last Saturday at Courts Plus in Fargo, N.D. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Catherine—Their Last Meeting:
• March 21, 2014: The MIAC's defending regular-season champions proved to be in a streak-snapping sort of mood, as St. Catherine dominated the three doubles matches and carried that momentum to a 9-0 conference win over the Cardinals at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn.—snapping Saint Mary's four-match winning streak | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel—Their Last Meeting:
• April 5, 2014: Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.) rallied from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 at No. 6 singles to lock up the Cardinals' 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Bethel at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's steps out of conference play next Friday, hosting Northwestern (Iowa) in a 2 p.m. nonconference matchup at the Winona Tennis Center.
• St. Catherine heads to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday for a 5:30 p.m. conference match against Macalester.
• Bethel is off until next Friday, when they travel to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 5:30 p.m. MIAC match against Hamline
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Schedule | 2015 Statistics
With their victories over Bethany Lutheran and Martin Luther, the Cardinals improved to 16-4 in nonconference matches over the past three seasons. … Friday's match against St. Catherine is the fourth straight home match for the Cardinals, who play six of their first seven contests at the Winona Tennis Center. … Saint Mary's has collected nine of its 12 wins over the past two seasons on their home court. … Saint Mary's surrendered just nine games in its 9-0 win over Bethany Lutheran last Friday, before dropping only 10 games in sweeping Martin Luther 9-0 two days later. … Kirsten Hoffmann (Apple Valley, Minn.) lost just three games in her two No. 1 singles matches last weekend. She also teamed with Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.) to post 8-0 and 8-2 wins at No. 1 doubles. … Krull, Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.), Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.), Ashley Syed (Lewisville, Texas) and Stacey Buss (Chicago, Ill.) also posted back-to-back straight-set wins last weekend. … Vandenberg finished with a team-leading 14 singles wins a year ago, while also boasting a team-best 11 doubles wins.
 
Scouting The St. Catherine Wildcats:
2015 Roster | 2015 Schedule | 2015 Statistics
Fresh off their fourth consecutive post-season appearance a year ago, the Wildcats were picked to finish fourth in the MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. … After winning the first MIAC title in program history in 2013, the Wildcats followed up with a 13-8 overall record and a 7-3 MIAC finish to clinch the No. 4 seed in the conference playoffs in 2014. … St. Catherine enters the 2015 season without the services of graduated senior Victoria Bravo, who went undefeated against MIAC opponents in her two years as a Wildcat at No. 1 singles—and became the first individual in program history to qualify for the NCAA tournament. … Mikinzee Salo, an All-MIAC selection in both singles and doubles a year ago, picked up singles wins in the Wildcats' season-opening wins over Northwestern and UM-Duluth last Saturday. … Salo is 19-1 in conference doubles matches, while going 15-5 in singles play against MIAC opponents. … Alicia Knoll and Angie Lorenzen also opened the season with back-to-back singles wins. … Lorenzen and Maria Koval were a perfect 2-0 at No. 2 doubles last weekend, while Knoll teamed with Jessica Duda for a pair of wins at No. 3.
 
Scouting The Bethel Royals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Schedule | 2015 Statistics
The Royals, coming off a 5-12 season a year ago—including a 3-8 run during the conference schedule—was picked to finish seventh in the MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. … Bethel played three fall matches against WIAC schools—sandwiching wins over UW-Stevens Point (5-4) and UW-Stout (6-3) around an 8-1 loss to UW-Oshkosh. … Bethel won all three doubles matches against Concordia last Saturday by identical 8-2 scores. … Four of Bethel's six singles wins vs. CC were in straight sets. Kourtney Jakubic and Abby Krekla were pushed to a fifth set, before winning 10-5 and 10-2 at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. … Anna Browning, Mattie Kidder, Abby Kreklau, Kristin Vivian and Larissa Voss have all collected two singles wins in the Royals' four matches. … Kidder and Maddy Simpson share the team lead with three doubles wins each. … As a team, Bethel is 12-12 in singles matches, while going 9-3 in doubles play.