WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team kicks off its 2016 season this weekend at the Winona Tennis Center, hosting Bethany Lutheran in a 5 p.m. nonconference match on Friday, before opening MIAC play on Saturday with a noon showdown with Carleton.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, January 29, 2016 | Winona Tennis Center | 5 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2015: 14-7 Overall) vs. Bethany Lutheran Vikings (2015: 10-13 Overall)
Saturday, January 30, 2016 | Winona Tennis Center | Noon
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2015: 4-5 MIAC | 14-7 Overall) vs. Carleton Knights (2015: 8-1 MIAC | 23-3 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Video Preview | Bethany Lutheran GameDay | Carleton GameDay
 
Last Action:
• This weekend's matches are the season openers for the Cardinals, Knights, and Vikings.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethany Lutheran—A Year Ago:
• February 6, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinal were unstoppable against Bethany Lutheran in the teams' nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center, cruising to a 9-0 victory | Recap
• February 1, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's entered its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against Carleton having won its season-opener in each of the last four seasons. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Carleton proved to play the role of streak-killers, as the Knights handed Saint Mary's an 8-1 setback at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action with four road matches next weekend. Saint Mary's will face Carroll on Friday, before squaring off with Carthage and Concordia (Wis.) on Saturday, closing out the weekend at UW-Oshkosh on Sunday.
• Bethany Lutheran: The Viking are back on the court next weekend in Owatonna, Minn., squaring off against Grand View on Friday, before playing back-to-back matches against Bethel and Wartburg on Sunday.
• Carleton: After Saturday's matches against Saint Mary's and UW-La Crosse at the Winona Tennis Center, the Knights are off until Feb. 10, when they head to the Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville, Minn., for a 6:30 p.m. conference match against Hamline.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2015 Final Statistics
• The Cardinals are coming off a 14-7 season a year ago, including a 4-5 mark in conference play. … Saint Mary's returns a pair of all-conference performers in Tim Wolford (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Collin Kaczorowski (Suamico, Wis.). Wolford was All-MIAC in both singles and doubles, while Kaczorowski was all-conference in doubles. … The Cardinals closed out the season having won 13 of their last 18 matches. … The Cardinals had their 11-match winning streak—the longest in coach Jeff Halberg's 15 years at the helm—snapped with a loss to St. Thomas on March 21. … Saint Mary's owned six 9-0 sweeps last season, while also recording four 8-1 wins. … Wolford—ranked No. 25 in the ITA national poll—had his 11-match singles winning streak come to an end with a straight-set loss vs. Gustavus on April 11. … Wolford played 10 three-set matches last season. … Wolford led the team with 18 singles wins, two more than Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.) and four in front of Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.). … Giesen had his team-leading 13-match winning streak halted against UW-La Crosse on March 25. … Amiotte and Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.) also put together lengthy singles winning streaks this season—Amiotte won 11 matches in a row and Holm nine. … Wolford and Kaczorowski, who teamed to post a 12-match unbeaten streak, finished 17-3 in dual matches at No. 1 doubles last season. … As a team, the Cardinals owned an impressive 81-45 singles record in dual matches, while going 43-20 in doubles play. … Saint Mary's used 16 different doubles combinations through 21 matches. … Saint Mary's loss to UW-La Crosse on March 25 was just the second nonconference setback of the season for the Cardinals, who were 10-2 vs. non-MIAC foes. … Saint Mary's owns a 21-4 record against nonconference opponents over the past two seasons, and is 34-7 in nonconference action over the past three years. … Nine of the Cardinals' 14 wins came on the road, where Saint Mary's was 9-3. The Cardinals were 5-4 on their home court a year ago.
 
Scouting The Bethany Lutheran Vikings:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2015 Final Statistics
• The Vikings head into 2016 coming off a 10-13 season a year ago, a mark that included a 7-3 showing in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC). … Bethany Lutheran boasted three players—Jacob Kubler, Carter Dahl, and Andrew Jelken. … Dahl and Jason Buechler each finished with a team-leading 11 singles wins last season. Dahl went 0-1 at No. 2, 4-3 at No. 3, and 7-5 at No. 4 en route to his 11-9 mark, while Buechler finished the year 11-7—1-3 at No. 4, 3-2 at No. 5, and 7-2 at No. 6. … Kubler collected all six of the Vikings' No. 1 singles wins last season. … As a team, the Vikings were 61-77 in singles play a year ago. … Bethany Lutheran used 26 different doubles combination last season in compiling a 25-44 doubles record. … The doubles teams of Dahl/Kubler and D.J. Jackson/Paul Riediger each posted a team-high five doubles wins. … Twelve of the Vikings' 25 doubles wins came at No. 3—where Bethany Lutheran used 12 different doubles teams.
 
Scouting The Carleton Knights:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2015 Final Statistics
• The Knights head into Saturday's match against Saint Mary's eager to build off last season's school-record 23 wins. … The Knights finished 2015 with a 23-3 overall record, including an 8-1 run through the MIAC schedule. … Carleton lost to Gustavus 5-0 in the MIAC Playoff championship match—it was the 10th time in 12 seasons that the Knights and Gusties had met in the MIAC Playoff finals. … Carleton boasted three players—Patton McClelland (singles), Erik Johnson (doubles), and Andrew Hwang (singles and doubles)—on the All-MIAC Team. … Hwang was named the recipient of the 2015 Arthur Ashe Award, capping a stellar senior season. … McClelland put together a team-high 20 singles wins last season—winning at least one match at five of the six singles positions. McClelland went 1-0 at No. 1, 2-0 at No. 2, 3-0 at No. 3, 5-0 at No. 4, and 9-2 at No. 5. … McClelland was one of five Knights with at least 10 singles wins last season—Hwang (16-4), Ezra Frankel (16-3), Kevin Mei (16-5), and Mauricio Gonzalez (10-4) were the others. … Mark Conrad enters Saturday's match vs. Saint Mary's red-hot, having won all seven of his singles matches in capturing last fall's Gustavus Midwest Open title. … As a team, Carleton finished 119-31 in singles play—including 65-10 combined at Nos. 4-5-6. … The Knights, who used 16 different doubles combinations, put together a 48-30 record in doubles action. … Hwang-Johnson put together a team-best 12 doubles wins, two more than Frankel/Mei.