COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team closes out its regular-season schedule on Saturday, traveling to Saint John's for a 3 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against the Johnnies.
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-6 MIAC, 9-7 Overall) at Saint John's Johnnies (1-5 MIAC, 2-12 Overall), 3 p.m.
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 19, 2017 | Winona, Minn.: The start wasn't exactly what Saint Mary's coach
Jeff Halberg had hoped for—but the finish certainly was. The Cardinals got off to a slow start in their nonconference match against Northwestern Wednesday afternoon, dropping two of three doubles matches to head into singles action staring at a 2-1 deficit. Fortunately for Halberg, Saint Mary's proved to have quite the finishing kick, as the Cardinals won five of the six singles matches en route to a 6-3 victory at the Winona Tennis Center |
Recap
• Saint John's—April 9, 2017 | Collegeville, Minn.: Tim Larson picked up SJU's lone victory—a 6-3, 1-6, 10-3 victory at No. 1 singles—as the Johnnies dropped an 8-1 conference decision to St. Thomas |
Recap
Saint Mary's vs. Saint John's—Their Last Meeting:
• March 11, 2016 * Winona, Minn.: When Saint Mary's squared off against Saint John's in 2015, the end result was a knock-down, drag-out, fight-to the-finish—with the Cardinals coming away with a hard-earned 5-4 victory. This time around, the end result was not nearly as favorable for the Cardinals. The Johnnies raced out to a quick 3-0 lead and never took their foot off the gas, handing Saint Mary's a 9-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Winona Tennis Center |
Recap
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Saturday's match against Saint John's is the regular-season finale for the Cardinals.
• Saint John's: The Johnnies close out their regular-season schedule next weekend, hosting Hamline in a 4 p.m. MIAC match on Friday, before welcoming St. Olaf to Collegeville, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference showdown the following day.
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster |
2017 Schedule |
2017 Statistics
• The Cardinals' match against Northwestern Wednesday was the second straight home match for Saint Mary's, which closed out the year 5-2 at the Winona Tennis Center this season. … Saint Mary's enters Saturday's match against Saint John's having won back-to-back games—both by 6-3 decisions. … Four of Saint Mary's last five victories have been decided by 6-3 scores. … The Cardinals' 6-3 win over St. Olaf on April 8 snapped their four-match losing streak. … Saint Mary's loss to nationally ranked Gustavus on March 1, meanwhile, put an end to the Cardinals' season-high four-match winning streak. … Four of the Cardinals' seven losses this season have been 9-0 decisions—the exceptions, 5-4 losses to Concordia on March 19 and Carroll on Feb. 18, and a 6-3 setback at Macalester on March 24. … With their wins against Northwestern Wednesday,
Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and
Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) remained tied for the team lead in singles wins with 10. … Sobczak has won nine of his last 12 singles matches—which includes a season- and career-high five-match winning streak. …
Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.), who also put together a season-high five-match singles winning streak earlier this season, is second to Tiedeman and Sobczak with nine dual-match singles wins. …
Andrew Johnson's (Rochester, Minn.) 17-15, third-set loss at No. 4 singles against Northwestern Wednesday was the Cardinals' highest-scoring set of the season. … Saint Mary's had three players—Tiedeman, Sobczak, and
Jake Allen (Winona, Minn.)—notch their first collegiate singles wins against Martin Luther on Jan. 20. … Tiedeman and
Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.) share the team lead with 10 dual-match doubles wins. … Amiotte and Tiedemann have teamed up to win seven of their last 10 matches at No. 2 doubles. … As a team, the Cardinals are 52-44 in singles play, while going 24-24 in doubles action. … 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. … 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 4-0 showing in their last three nonconference matches, the Cardinals improved to 48-16 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.
Scouting The Saint John's Johnnies:
2017 Roster |
2017 Schedule |
2017 Statistics
• Saturday's match against Saint Mary's is the fifth of seven straight home matches for the Johnnies, who are 1-4 in home-court matches this season. … Saint John's played 10 of its first 11 matches on the road. … Saint John's enters Saturday's match against Saint Mary's have dropped each of its last two matches—falling to Bethel (7-2) and St. Thomas (8-1). … Tim Larson heads into Saturday's match owning a team-leading nine dual-match singles wins—all at No. 1. … Larson is currently riding a four-match singles winning streak. … Jonah Punnoose is second to Larson with six singles wins, one more than Ryan Meger. … Larson and Punnoose have teamed to record seven of the Johnnies' 15 doubles wins—going 7-7 at No. 1. … Hunter Krebsbach and Ben McKimm have each recorded five doubles wins. … The Johnnies are 30-54 in singles, while going 15-27 in doubles. … SJU has used nine different doubles combinations this season. … Saint John's snapped its season-opening seven-match losing streak with a 9-0 win over Moravian on March 7. … Since snapping that season-opening slide, the Johnnies have won just once in their last five matches. … Four of SJU's 12 losses have been 5-4 decisions. … The Johnnies have only been swept once in their first 14 matches.
