FARGO, N.D. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team is back in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Sunday, traveling to Courts Plus for an 11:30 a.m. showdown with Concordia.
The Matchup:• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-4 MIAC, 7-8 Overall) at Concordia Cobbers (1-5 MIAC, 1-7 Overall)
Last Action:• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals dropped both of their matches last weekend at the Winona Tennis Center, falling to Saint John's 9-0 in an MIAC matchup last Friday, before dropping an 8-1 nonconference match to Luther a day later |
SJU Recap *
Luther Recap• Concordia: St. Olaf jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion and outlasted the Cobbers down the stretch in handing Concordia a 7-2 conference setback at Courts Plus in Fargo, N.D. |
Recap Saint Mary's vs. Concordia—Their Last Meeting:• March 14, 2015 * Winona, Minn.: It had been 10 days since Saint Mary's racked up its 10th straight victory of the season, rolling to an 8-1 nonconference win over Morningside (Iowa) in its final match of its spring trip to Orlando, Fla. But the Cardinals showed absolutely no signs of spring-trip rust, cruising to win No. 11 in a row, dropping Concordia 9-0 in an MIAC match at the Winona Tennis Center |
Recap Up Next:• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are now off until April 2, when they return home to the Winona Tennis Center for a 2 p.m. conference showdown with Bethel.
• Concordia: The Cobbers return to action on April 2, heading to the Northfield (Minn.) Tennis Center for a 3:30 p.m. MIAC showdown with Carleton.
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 2016 Roster |
2016 Schedule |
2016 Statistics• The Cardinals' match against Luther last Saturday was their fourth straight home match. Saint Mary's has played eight of its first 15 matches on its home court—the Cardinals are 2-6 at the Winona Tennis Center and 5-2 on the road. … With their 8-1 loss to Luther last Saturday, the Cardinals slipped to 7-4 in nonconference play this season. Saint Mary's owns a 25-7 record against nonconference foes over the past three seasons, and is 41-10 in non-MIAC contests over the past four years. … Saint Mary's 5-4 win over Adrian on Feb. 28 was its first 5-4 match of the season—the Cardinals also own two 9-0 sweeps, three 7-2 victories and an 8-1 triumph. …
Warren Lawrenz (Rochester, Minn.) heads into the Cardinals' match against Concordia having won seven of his last 11 singles matches. … Lawrenz boasts a team-leading seven dual-match singles wins, and—thanks to a pair of victories at the Gustavus Invitational last fall—has a team-best nine overall singles wins. …
Kyle Swanson (Oak Grove, Minn.) collected his first collegiate singles win with a straight-set victory against Martin Luther on Feb. 20. … Saint Mary's is 38-62 in singles play through 14 matches this season. … With their No. 3 doubles win vs. Luther last Saturday,
Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.) and
Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.) moved into the team lead with eight dual-match doubles wins each, one more than Lawrenz and
Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.). … Holm and Lawrenz, who enjoyed a 3-1 run at last fall's Gustavus Invitational—own 11 overall doubles wins, with Amiotte sitting third with 10. … With their 9-0 win over Bethany Lutheran on Jan. 29, the Cardinals improved to 4-1 in their last five season-openers. … The Cardinals put together an 11-match winning streak in 2015—the longest in coach
Jeff Halberg's 15 years at the helm. … Giesen owned a team-leading 13-match winning streak last season, while Amiotte and Holm boasted 11- and nine-match singles winning streaks last season.
Scouting The Concordia Cobbers: 2016 Roster |
2016 Statistics |
2016 Schedule• The Cobbers head into their matches against North Dakota and Saint Mary's this weekend in the midst of a seven-match losing streak. … The Cobbers' last two setbacks have been by identical 7-2 counts. CC has lost just once by a 9-0 count, while suffering three 8-1 setbacks and three 7-2 decisions. … Zach Zitur and Isaac Toivonen share the team lead with three singles wins each. Toivonen is 3-5 at No. 1 singles, while Zitur is 3-5 at No. 3. … CC has used the same lineup in all eight of its matches this season. … The teams of Toivonen-David Schneck, Zitur-Matthew Engum, and Jesse Schneeberger-Austin Storm have each one won doubles match to account for the Cobbers' three doubles wins. CC is 3-21 in doubles play this season. … Concordia has played just two of its first eight matches at home. The Cobbers are 1-1 on their home court, while going 0-6 on the road.
