WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team kicks off its 2017 season this weekend at the Winona Tennis Center, hosting Martin Luther in a 5:30 p.m. nonconference match on Friday, before opening MIAC play on Sunday with an 11 a.m. showdown with Carleton.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, January 27, 2017 | Winona Tennis Center | 5:30 p.m. | GameDay Program
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2016: 13-7 Overall) vs. Martin Luther Knights (2016: 6-11 Overall)
Sunday, January 29, 2017 | Winona Tennis Center |11 a.m. | GameDay Program
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2016: 4-6 MIAC | 13-7 Overall) vs. Carleton Knights (2016: 9-1 MIAC | 15-5 Overall)
 
Last Action:
• This weekend's matches are the season openers for Saint Mary's, Martin Luther, and Carleton
 
Saint Mary's vs. Martin Luther—A Year Ago:
• February 13, 2016 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals—coming off a thrilling, 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Saint Benedict earlier in the day—rolled to their second straight victory, cruising to a 9-0 nonconference win over Martin Luther at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Carleton—A Year Ago:
• January 31, 2016 * Winona, Minn.: Carleton raced out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion, and rode that momentum to an 8-1 win over the Cardinals at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals take to the road for the first time this season on Feb. 5, traveling to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 4:30 p.m. conference matchup against St. Thomas.
• Martin Luther: The Knights are back on the road on Feb. 4, traveling to Macalester's Leonard Center in St. Paul, Minn., for a 2 p.m. nonconference match against the Scots.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2016 Final Statistics
• The Cardinals closed out the 2016 season having won three straight and six of their last eight. … Saint Mary's put together three, three-match winning streaks last year. On the flip side, the Cardinals dropped back-to-back matches just twice. … The Cardinals finished the year 9-1 in nonconference play—the lone loss an 8-1 setback to Otterbein in the teams' first-ever meeting on Feb. 28. … Saint Mary's is now 26-8 in nonconference play over the past four seasons. … Fueled by their season-opening 9-0 win over Bethany Lutheran, the Cardinals improved to 8-0 all-time against the Vikings. … The Cardinals dropped just 10 games in their 9-0 season-opening sweep of Bethany Lutheran. Last season, Saint Mary's surrendered just nine games in a similar 9-0 sweep of the Vikings. … Saint Mary's collected five 9-0 victories this season. … Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) returns after earning All-MIAC honors during her freshman campaign a year ago. Sonday finished 5-5 in MIAC competition, with all five singles losses coming against teams who qualified for the MIAC post-season tournament—Gustavus, Bethel, St. Olaf, St. Catherine and St. Thomas. … Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.) kicked off her collegiate career in impressive fashion at the 2016  Gustavus Invitational, going a perfect 4-0 in singles play. Sheyenne Bauer (Cannon Falls, Minn.) and Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.) each picked up two tournament wins. … Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.), who had her season-high six-match winning streak snapped with a loss at No. 3 singles against St. Olaf on April 9, closed out the season having won 12 of her last 15 singles matches. … Vandenberg shared the team lead in dual-match singles wins (13) with Jorgensen, Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.). … Vandenberg, coming off an 11-win singles season in 2015, captured the singles title at the 2015 Gustavus Invitational—going a perfect 4-0—to push her overall singles record to a team-best 17-4 a year ago. … Vandenberg's 17 singles wins in 2016 were a single-season career high, and rank No. 2 all-time, five wins shy of McKenna Edwards' 22-win total in 2012. … Vandenberg also moved into the No. 2 spot all-time in career singles wins with 42, two more than Jorgensen. … Jorgensen, Boeve, and Marissa Kinzer (Aitkin, Minn.) all finished with a team-leading 11 dual-match doubles wins. … Jorgensen collected two wins in doubles play at the Gustavus Invitational in the fall, giving her a team-best 13 overall doubles wins. … The Cardinals used 12 different doubles combinations last season. … Saint Mary's closed out the season with a 72-48 record in singles play, while going 34-26 in doubles action. … The Cardinals have collected 18 of their 31 wins over the past three seasons on their home court.
 
Scouting The Martin Luther Knights:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2016 Final Statistics
• The Knights enter 2017 on the heels of a 6-11 season a year ago—with all six wins coming in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) play. … Martin Luther finished third in the regular-season conference standings, falling to second-seeded Northwestern 9-0 in the UMAC Tournament. … Elizabeth Broring—MLC's lone First-Team All-UMAC selection—Acacia Foss, and Rachel Riediger all led the team with five singles wins in 2016. … Melissa Stibb and Sophia Birner chipped in four singles victories a year ago. … Martin Luther finished 5-11 at Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 singles. … Foss and Riediger teamed for a team-leading five doubles wins, one more than Birner/Broring and Mateja Epple/Charis Goelzer. … Martin Luther used 13 different doubles combinations last season.
 
Scouting The Carleton Knights:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2016 Final Statistics
• The Knights head into Sunday's season-opening at Saint Mary's having posted a 15-5 overall record a year ago—including a regular-season conference-championship 9-1 MIAC record. … The Knights reached the title match of the MIAC Playoffs, falling to Gustavus 5-0. … The Knights advanced to the MIAC Playoff championship match for the fifth time since 2011, while their showdown against Gustavus marked the fourth time in the last six years the two have faced in the post-season title match—with Carleton winning in 2012 and 2014. … The Knights return two of their four 2016 All-MIAC selections—Danielle Vasilliev and Caitlin Shea. … Mikayla Becich, one of four seniors on last year's regular-season conference championship team, and Vasilliev shared the team lead in singles wins with 14. … Becich did not lose a dual match last season, going 13-0—including 7-0 in conference play. … Joyce Yu and Grace Davis also posted 10 or more wins a year ago, finishing with 12 and 10, respectively. … The Knights got at least six singles wins from 10 different players last season. … The Knights lost just twice at No. 2 singles, finishing 17-2. … Becich and Yu teamed to record a team-best nine doubles wins. … Carleton used 21 different doubles combinations last season.