MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team makes its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff appearance since 2010 on Wednesday, traveling to the University of Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center for a 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal match against third-seeded St. Thomas.
 
The Quarterfinal Matchup:
• #6 Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-5 MIAC, 12-6 Overall) at #3 St. Thomas (8-2 MIAC, 14-2 Overall), 3:30 p.m.
 
MIAC Playoffs Schedule
Quarterfinals: Wednesday, May 3 - 3:30 p.m.
• No. 5 St. Catherine at No. 4 Bethel | Arden Hills, Minn.
• No. 6 Saint Mary's at No. 3 St. Thomas | Minneapolis, Minn.
Semifinals: Friday, May 5 - 3:30 p.m.
• Lowest remaining seed at No. 1 Carleton | Northfield, Minn.
• Highest remaining seed at No. 2 Gustavus | St. Peter, Minn.
Championship: Sunday, May 7 - 1 p.m.
• Semifinal winners at high seed | Location: TBD
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 22, 2017 * St. Joseph, Minn.: The Cardinals raced out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion of their conference matchup against Saint Benedict, and never took their foot off the gas, winning all six singles matches—including a pair of three-set marathons—to earn the 9-0 victory. And Saint Mary's first MIAC post-season berth since the 2010 season | Recap
• St. Thomas—April 29-30 * St. Paul, Minn./Minneapolis, Minn.: The Tommies suffered their first two conference losses of the season in their final two regular-season matches last weekend, dropping an 8-1 decision to conference runner-up Gustavus on Saturday at St. Paul Academy, before falling 8-1 to regular-season champion Carleton a day later at the U of M Baseline Tennis Center | Gustavus Recap * Carleton Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas—Earlier This Year:
• February 5, 2017 * St. Paul, Minn.: The conference schedule-makers were not very kind to Saint Mary's when it came to kicking off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The Cardinals opened their conference slate on Jan. 29, falling 9-0 to Carleton—picked No. 1 in the MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. In conference match No. 2 Sunday afternoon, the Cardinals once again dropped a 9-0 decision, this time against St. Thomas—picked to finish third in the MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Top-seeded Carleton will host the lowest-remaining seed following Wednesday's quarterfinal action, and second-seeded Gustavus will host the highest-remaining seed in Friday's semifinals. The two semifinal winners will advance to the championship match, which will be played Sunday at 1 p.m. on the home court of the top remaining seed. The tournament champ will receive the MIAC Playoff championship plaque, and the conference's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Tournament. 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2017 Statistics
• The Cardinals are making their first MIAC Playoff appearance since 2010. … Saint Mary's win over Saint Benedict in its regular-season finale was the Cardinals' fifth conference win of the season. The five MIAC wins are the most since Saint Mary's also finished 5-5 during the 2005 season. … Saint Mary's closed out the season with a 7-3 record on their home court this season. … After opening the season 1-2, the Cardinals enter post-season play having won 11 of their last 15. … Saint Mary's has put together two, four-match winning streaks to account for eight of its 12 wins this season. … Saint Mary's 6-3 win over Macalester on March 24 snapped a season-opening streak of nine straight matches decided by a 9-0 score. … Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.) suffered a three-set, 3-6, 7-5, 10-1 setback at No. 5 singles against Northwestern on April 19, snapping her career-high eight-match winning streak. … Jorgensen's eight-match winning streak was two more than the season-best six-match win streak teammate Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.) posted a year ago. … Vandenberg and Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) each enter post-season play riding six-match singles winning streaks. … Vandenberg has posted a team-high 14 dual-match singles wins, one more than both Jorgensen and Boeve, and two in front of Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.). … All 14 of Vandenberg's singles wins have come at No. 2, where she owns a 14-4 record. … With her 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 win at No. 2 singles against Saint Benedict on April 22, Vandenberg moved into a tie with Bailey Edwards atop the Cardinals all-time singles wins list with 57, two more than Jorgensen. … Vandenberg posted a season- and career-high 17 singles wins in 2016. Her 17 singles wins rank No. 2 all-time, five wins shy of McKenna Edwards' single-season 22-win total in 2012. … Barr's 6-2, 6-2 loss at No. 5 singles against Carleton on Jan. 29 snapped the freshman's five-match singles winning streak. Barr kicked off her collegiate career in impressive fashion at the 2016 Gustavus Invitational, going a perfect 4-0 in singles play. … Emily Strezishar's (East Grand Forks, N.D.) 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles against North Central (Minn.) on Feb. 10 was her first collegiate singles win. … Marissa Kinzer (Aitkin, Minn.) boasts a team-leading 13 dual-match doubles wins, three more than Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Jorgensen. … As a team, the Cardinals are 75-33 in singles matches, while going 36-18 in doubles play. … The Cardinals went 7-1 in nonconference play this season, pushing their record to 42-13 in non-MIAC matches since 2012. … Saint Mary's dropped just seven games in sweeping North Central (Minn.) on Feb. 10, and followed that up by losing just eight games in its 9-0 win over Bethany Lutheran a week later. … With their win over Martin Luther on Jan. 27, the Cardinals have now opened the season with a 9-0 victory in back-to-back seasons. … The Cardinals improved to 10-0 in their last 10 meetings with Martin Luther and are 9-0 against Bethany Lutheran.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2017 Roster | 2017 Schedule | 2017 Statistics
• The Tommies had their school-record 14-match winning streak snapped with last Saturday's 8-1 loss to conference runner-up Gustavus. … After winning 14 in a row, the Tommies closed out their regular-season schedule with back-to-back 8-1 losses to Gustavus (the MIAC regular-season runner-up) and Carleton (the MIAC regular-season champion). … St. Thomas' lone wins vs. both Gustavus and Carleton came in doubles—Caitlin Bakke/Jenna Zimmerman won at No. 2 against Gustavus, while Paige McLeod/Taylor McLeod picked up a 9-8 win at No. 1 against Carleton. … Paige Becher and Taylor McLeod enter post-season play with a team-best 13 singles wins. Becher had opened the season with 13 straight singles, before dropping both matches against Gustavus and Carleton last weekend. … Zimmerman and Jessie O'Brien each closed out the regular season with 12 singles wins, with Bakke chipping in 10. … St. Thomas lost just two matches at No. 3, No. 5, and No. 6 singles, going 14-2 at all three positions. … Paige McLeod/Taylor McLeod have combined for a 15-1 dual-match record this season—going 8-1 at No. 1 and 7-0 at No. 2. … Bakke/Zimmerman are 11-3 in doubles play, posting a 5-2 mark at No. 1 and a 6-1 showing at No. 2. … The Tommies finished their 16-match regular-season schedule going 40-8 in doubles play—14-2 at No. 2, and 13-3 at No. 1 and No. 3. … The Tommies have used nine different doubles combinations this season. … Both of St. Thomas' losses this seasoin have come at home—the Tommies are 11-0 in road and neutral-site matches.