By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team kicks off its 2018 season this weekend, hosting Martin Luther on Friday in a 6 p.m. nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center, before opening MIAC play with a showdown against Carleton at 11 a.m. on Sunday at Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville, Minn.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, January 26, 2018 * Winona Tennis Center * 6 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2017 Final: 12-7 Overall) vs. Martin Luther Knights (2017 Final: 6-10 Overall)
Sunday, January 28, 2018 * Lifetime Fitness * Lakeville, Minn. * 11 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2017 Final: 5-5 MIAC, 12-7 Overall) vs. Carleton Knights (2017 Final: 10-0 MIAC, 16-5 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Martin Luther GameDay Program * Carleton GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• This weekend's matches are the season-opener for Saint Mary's, Martin Luther, and Carleton.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Martin Luther—A Year Ago:
• January 27, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's kicked off the 2017 season in convincing fashion. The Cardinals dominated from start-to-finish opening with 8-0, 8-3, and 8-4 doubles wins, before sweeping the six singles matches in straight sets in 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 29, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's, coming off a 9-0 nonconference win over Martin Luther, had no answers for the depth of Carleton, as the high-powered Knights dealt the Cardinals a 9-0 setback in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Following this weekend's matches against Martin Luther and Carleton, the Cardinals hit the road next weekend for three nonconference matches. Saint Mary's will face St. Scholastica in an 11 a.m. match and UM-Duluth in a 5 p.m. showdown—with both matches taking place at the Arrowhead Tennis Center in Duluth, Minn., before heading to Superior, Wis., for a 9 a.m. showdown against UW-Superior.
• Martin Luther: The Knights are back in action on Feb. 3, heading to the University of Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center for a 7 p.m. nonconference match against St. Catherine.
• Carleton: The Knights are now off until Feb. 8, when they head to Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville, Minn., for a 6:30 p.m. MIAC showdown with Hamline.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) kicked off her collegiate career with five straight victories last September—winning all three of her singles matches in the Gustavus Fall Invitational, while teaming with Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) for a pair of doubles wins at the ITA/Oracle Midwest Region Tournament. … Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) and Ashley Frederickson (St. James, Minn.) won their doubles draw at the Gustavus Fall Invitational last September, winning three straight matches. … The Cardinals made their first MIAC Playoff appearance since 2010, falling to third-seeded St. Thomas 5-0. … Senior Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.) represented the Cardinals on the 2017 All-MIAC First-Team in singles. … Saint Mary's win over Saint Benedict in its regular-season finale was the Cardinals' fifth conference win of the season—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 its home court a year ago. … After opening the season 1-2, the Cardinals won 11 of their last 16. … Saint Mary's put together two, four-match winning streaks to account for eight of its 12 wins. … 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 season- and career-high eight-match winning streak. … Vandenberg and Boeve each put together six-match winning streaks this season. … Vandenberg 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 came at No. 2, where she owned a 14-4 record. … With her 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 win at No. 2 singles win 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 during her junior year 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 her 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.) boasted a team-leading 13 dual-match doubles wins, three more than Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Jorgensen. … As a team, the Cardinals finished 75-35 in singles matches, while going 36-21 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 Martin Luther Knights:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Knights are coming off a 6-10 season a year ago, including a 6-4 showing in UMAC action—falling to Northwestern 9-0 in the conference tournament semifinals. … Six of the Knights' 10 losses were decided by 9-0 scores, while three of their six wins were 9-0 sweeps. … Morgan Shevey posted a team-leading eight singles wins in 2017, one more than Anna Hemmelman and two in front of Rachel Riediger. … All seven of Hemmelman's wins came at No. 1, while Shevey went 3-0 at No. 4 singles and 5-8 at No. 5. … As a team, Martin Luther went 7-9 at Nos. 1, 2, and five singles, while finishing 6-10 at Nos. 3 and 6, and 5-11 at No. 4. … Hemmelman compiled a team-leading seven doubles wins—again, all at No. 1—followed by Riediger with six and Shevey with five. … Martin Luther finished 2017 with a 38-58 record in singles play, while going 16-32 in doubles action.
 
Scouting The Carleton Knights:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Knights enter 2018 on the heels of a 16-5 overall record a year ago that included a perfect run through the conference schedule. … Carleton had its season-high 10-match winning streak snapped with a 5-2 loss to Gustavus in the MIAC Playoff title match. … Zoe Park closed out the season with a team-best 19 singles wins, tying the program's single-season school record. … Park was one of six Knights to end 2017 with more than 10 singles wins—Kristina Conrad (17), Madeline Prins (14), Danielle Vasilliev (13), Caitlin Shea (12), and Alana Danieu (12) were the other five. … Park closed out the year going 13-0 at No. 2 singles, while adding a 6-2 mark at No. 3. … Conrad finished 2017 with a 17-1 singles record, with her lone loss coming at No. 5. She was 1-0 at No. 3, 10-0 at No. 4, and 1-0 at No. 6. … Eleven of Vasilliev's 13 wins came at No. 1 singles. … As a team, Carleton finished 20-1 at No. 2 singles and 18-3 at No. 5. The Knights added 17-3 showings at Nos. 4 and 6, while going 14-7 at Nos. 1 and 3. … 
Shea and Vasilliev teamed up for a team-leading 11 doubles wins, while Conrad/Danieu were second with nine doubles victories. … Carleton used 18 different doubles combinations, with 13 of those 18 collecting at least one win. … The Knights finished 100-24 in singles play last season, while going 43-20 in doubles action.