WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team kicks off a busy Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference weekend on Friday, entertaining Hamline in a 6 p.m. match at the Winona Tennis Center, before heading to St. Peter, Minn., on Saturday for an 11 a.m. showdown with Gustavus.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, March 10, 2017 * Winona Tennis Center, Winona, Minn. * 6 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 6-3 Overall) vs. Hamline Pipers (1-1 MIAC, 3-1 Overall)
Saturday, March 11, 2017 * Winona, Minn. * 11 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 6-3 Overall) at Gustavus Gusties (3-0 MIAC, 11-2 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Hamline GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—February 28 * De Pere, Wis.: The Cardinals picked up their third win in as many days, sweeping the three doubles matches and winning five of the six singles contests in cruising to an 8-1 win over St. Norbert | Recap
• Hamline—February 17-18, 2017 * Owatonna, Minn./White Bear Lake, Minn.: The Pipers picked up a pair of wins last weekend, beating St. Olaf 5-4 in an MIAC match last Friday in Owatonna, Minn., before heading to White Bear Lake, Minn., to post a 7-2 victory over Central-Iowa a day later | St. Olaf Recap * Central Recap
• Gustavus—March 4, 2017 * St. Peter, Minn.: The Gusties picked up their 10th and 11th straight victories at Swanson Tennis Center, defeating No. 17-ranked UW-Whitewater 8-1 and Macalester 9-0 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Hamline—Their Last Meeting:
• April 16, 2016 * St. Paul, Minn.: Down 4-0 after the three doubles matches and the No. 5 singles match, the Cardinals rallied for five straight victories—including three, three-setters—to rally for a 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Hamline Saturday afternoon at HU's Holt Courts | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Gustavus—Their Last Meeting:
• February 20, 2016 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's wasn't able to put an end to nationally ranked Gustavus' season-opening winning streak, but the Cardinals were able to do something no other team has been able to do this season—pick up a singles and a doubles win off the high-powered Gusties. That, however, would not be enough, as 27-time defending MIAC champion Gustavus dealt the Cardinals a 7-2 setback at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: Following this weekend's matches against Hamline and Gustavus, the Cardinals return to the Winona Tennis Center next Sunday, entertaining Concordia in a 9:30 a.m. conference match.
• Hamline: The Pipers are now off until March 20-24, when they square off against Lawrence, Hamilton, Grinnell and Luther as part of their spring trip to Orlando, Fla.
• Gustavus: After their three matches against St. Olaf, Saint Mary's, and Luther on Saturday, the Gusties are off until next Friday, when they split their squad—hosting Coe in a 5 p.m. nonconference match in St. Peter, Minn., while also traveling to Fargo, N.D., for a 6:30 p.m. conference matchup against Concordia.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2017 Statistics
• Following Friday's match against Hamline the Cardinals will play three of their next four matches on the road. … The Cardinals enter the weekend riding a season-high three-match winning streak—thanks to victories over Milwaukee School of Engineer (7-2), Lawrence (6-3), and St. Norbert (8-1) in a three-day span. … Saint Mary's is a near-perfect 5-1 in nonconference play—the lone setback, a 5-4 decision at Carroll on Feb. 18. … With their 3-0 showing in their last three nonconference matches, the Cardinals improved to 47-16 in nonconference play since 2012. … Saint Mary's has put together two, 9-0 victories this season—sweeping Bethany Lutheran on Feb. 17 and Martin Luther on Jan. 20. … Saint Mary's has won nine straight against Bethany Lutheran and are 11-0 against Martin Luther—including five straight 9-0 victories. … Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.) won all three of his singles matches against MSOE, Lawrence, and St. Norbert to push his singles winning streak to a season-high five straight. … Zuzek shares the team lead in dual-match singles wins (6) with Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.). … Saint Mary's had three players—Sobczak, Tiedeman, and Jake Allen (Winona, Minn.)—record their first collegiate singles wins against Martin Luther on Jan. 20. … Tiedemann and Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, Minn.) share the team lead with six dual-match doubles win, one more than Zuzek and Sobczak. … Amiotte and Tiedemann have teamed up to win each of their last three matches at No. 2 doubles. … The Cardinals dropped just nine games in cruising to six, straight-set singles wins in in their season-opening 9-0 nonconference win over Martin Luther. … With their 9-0 win over Martin Luther on Jan. 20, the Cardinals improved to 5-1 in their last six season openers.
 
Scouting The Hamline Pipers:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2017 Statistics
• After dropping a season-opening 8-1 decision to Gustavus on Feb. 11, the Pipers have rattled off three straight wins—sandwiching 7-2 victories over Northwestern (Minn.) and Central-Iowa around a 5-4 victory over St. Olaf. … Matt Seracki, Cody Jahrig, and Mark Johnson head into Friday's match against Saint Mary's all owning a team-leading three singles wins. … The Pipers are a perfect 4-0 at No. 6 singles, with Jahrig owning a 3-0 mark, while Ben Klimek owns the other No. 6 singles win. … Johnson and Seracki sport 3-1 records at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively. … The team of Klimek/Gabriel Guarin owns a team-leading three doubles wins, one more than Johnson/Seracki and Jahrig/David Yanagita. … As a team, Hamline is 13-11 in singles play through four matches, while going 7-5 in doubles.
 
Scouting The Gustavus Gusties:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2017 Statistics
• Gustavus enters Saturday's match against Saint Mary's ranked No. 23 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division III rankings. … After opening the season with back-to-back losses to Whitman (6-3) and Pomona-Pitzer (7-2), the Gusties have rattled off nine straight wins—including five by 9-0 scores. …Mohanad Alhouni enters this weekend's matches owning a team-high nine singles wins, once more than Zach Ekstein. … Alhouni is 9-1 in dual singles matches this season, while going 9-2 in tournament play en route to an 18-3 overall singles mark. … Alhouni is 9-1 at No. 1 singles for the Gusties, while Ekstein is 8-1 at No. 2. … Gustavus has lost just once at both No. 1 and No. 2 singles. … The Gusties boast three individuals who have all played matches in four different singles positions. … Alhouni and Chase Johnson share the team lead in doubles wins with eight each. … Gustavus has received doubles wins from 10 different doubles combinations. … As a team, Gustavus owns a 66-12 singles record in dual matches, while going 32-7 in doubles play.