WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team steps out of conference play for the final time this season on Thursday, as the Cardinals entertain North Central (Minn.) in a 7:30 p.m. match-up at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (7-10 Overall) vs. North Central Rams (2-4 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals came up empty in their conference match against Bethel last Saturday, falling to the Royals 9-0 at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
• North Central: The Rams have been off since April 1, when they posted a 7-2 conference win over UM-Morris at Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville, Minn. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. North Central—Their Last Meeting:
• April 20, 2013 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's started the day hot—and finished even hotter. The Cardinals, who kicked things off with a 7-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over Concordia, closed out the day—the final home match for Saint Mary's four graduating seniors—with an impressive 9-0 nonconference win over North Central at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play are back in action next Saturday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 2 p.m. conference match against St. Olaf.
• North Central: The Rams are right back in action on Saturday, heading to Mankato, Minn., for a pair of conference matches against Bethany Lutheran and UM-Morris.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2016 Roster | 2016 Schedule | 2016 Statistics
• Saint Mary's will play two of its final four matches at home, sandwiching home contests against North Central and Macalester around road contests at St. Olaf and Hamline. … Saint Mary's win over Adrian on Feb. 28 was its first 5-4 victory of the season—the Cardinals also own two 9-0 sweeps, three 7-2 victories and an 8-1 triumph. … Warren Lawrenz (Rochester, Minn.) collected his team-leading eighth dual-match singles win against Concordia on March 20 and heads into the Cardinals' match against North Central having won eight of his last 13 singles matches. … Thanks to a pair of victories at the Gustavus Invitational last fall—Lawrenz has a team-best 10 overall singles wins. … Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.), Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.), and Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.) are all second to Lawrenz in both dual-match singles wins (6) and overall singles wins (8). … 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 41-61 in singles play through 16 matches this season. … With their No. 3 doubles win vs. Concordia on March 20, Amiotte and Giesen improved their team lead in dual-match doubles wins to nine each, two more than Lawrenz and Holm. … Holm and Lawrenz, who enjoyed a 3-1 run at last fall's Gustavus Invitational—join Amiotte with 11 overall doubles wins. … The Cardinals head into their match against North Central 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. … 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 North Central Rams:
2016 Roster | 2016 Statistics | 2016 Schedule
• The Rams' 7-2 win over UM-Morris on April 1 was their second straight. … After opening the season four consecutive losses, North Central picked up its first win with a 5-4 win over Martin Luther on March 31. … Shane Christensen owns a team-high two singles wins, while five other Rams account for North Central's other singles wins. … North Central is still looking for its first win at No. 2 singles (0-6). … Along with his two singles victories, Christensen is also the team-leader in doubles wins with three, one more than both Alex Bird and Ian Bird. … Christensen enters Thursday's match against Saint Mary's riding a two-match singles winning streak, and has teamed with Fabian Tunberg for back-to-back wins at No. 2 doubles. …  As a team, North Central is 7-29 in singles play and 6-12 in doubles. … Thursday's match against Saint Mary's is just the second road match of the season for North Central.