By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team returns to conference play on Saturday with a noon matchup against Bethel, before entertaining Wartburg in an 11 a.m. nonconference matchup the following day. Both matches will be held at the Winona Tennis Center
 
The Matchups:
Saturday, February 10, 2018 * Winona Tennis Center * Noon
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 1-2 overall) vs. Bethel Royals (0-0 MIAC, 3-0 overall)
Sunday, February 11, 2018 * Winona Tennis Center * 11 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-2 overall) vs. Wartburg Knights (1-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Bethel GameDay Program * Wartburg GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's­—February 2, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches in its nonconference match against Carthage at the Winona Tennis Center, but the Red Men rattled off wins in five of the six singles matches to earn the 6-3 victory | Recap
• Bethel—February 3, 2018 * Owatonna, Minn.: The Royals picked up their second and third straight 9-0 victories, blanking both Wartburg and Bethany Lutheran in nonconference action at the Owatonna Tennis Club | Wartburg Recap * BLC Recap
• Wartburg—February 3, 2018 * Owatonna, Minn.: The Knights split their two season-opening nonconference matches last Saturday, falling to Bethel 9-0, before rebounding with a 9-0 win over Bethany Lutheran | BU Recap * BLC Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel—A Year Ago:
• April 1, 2017 * Arden Hills, Minn.: Saint Mary's could not match Bethel's depth, as the Royals handed the Cardinals a 9-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Bethel Outdoor Courts | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Wartburg—Their Last Meeting:
• March 22, 2015 * Waverly, Iowa: Saint Mary's showed no ill affects from its 7-2 conference loss to St. Thomas—a loss that snapped the Cardinals' season-high 11-match winning streak—when they took the court against Wartburg. In fact, the Cardinals were in prime form, as Saint Mary's cruised to an 8-1 nonconference victory over the Knights | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Following this weekend's matches, the Cardinals are back home at the Winona Tennis Center for a pair of MIAC matches next Saturday—hosting Macalester (noon) and Gustavus (6 p.m.).
• Bethel: The Royals return to the Owatonna Tennis Club in Owatonna, Minn., next Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. conference matchup against St. Olaf.
• Wartburg: The Knights head to Davenport, Iowa, next Saturday for a pair of nonconference matches against Quincy (5 p.m.)
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• This weekend's matches against Bethel and Wartburg are the fourth and fifth straight home matches for the Cardinals, who finished 5-2 at the Winona Tennis Center a year ago. … With last Friday's 6-3 loss to Carthage, the Cardinals are now to 49-17 in nonconference matches since 2012. … Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.)—who closed out 2017 tied for the team lead with 11 singles victories—improved to 3-0 on the season with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles against Carthage last Saturday. … Tiedemann's straight-set victory was the Cardinals' only singles win against the Red Men. … Tiedemann—who has now won his last six singles matches—also had a hand in one of the Cardinals' two doubles wins against Carthage last Friday, teaming with Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.) for an 8-5 win at No. 1. Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.) and Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.) chipped in an 8-6 victory at No. 3 doubles. … Amiotte, Giesen, Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.), Alec Rudh (Hastings, Minn.), Zuzek joined Tiedemann in posting straight-set singles wins in the Cardinals' season-opening 9-0 win over Martin Luther on Jan. 26. … Saint Mary's lost just nine games in their six straight-set singles wins vs. Martin Luther—including 6-0, 6-0 wins by Sobczak at No. 3 and Zuzek at No. 6. … Sobczak has won 11 of his last 15 singles matches. … Amiotte/Tiedemann, Sobczak/Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.), and Zuzek/Gabe Graves (Littleton, Colo.) combined to drop just three games in doubles play against Martin Luther on Jan. 26. … Amiotte kicked off his senior season in impressive fashion at the ITA Midwest Regional last October, rebounding from an opening-round loss to win six straight matches in claiming the consolation title. … Saint Mary's season-opening win over Martin Luther on Jan. 26 pushed its record to 12-0 vs. the Knights—including six straight 9-0 victories.
 
Scouting The Bethel Royals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Royals, picked to finish fifth in the MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll, have opened the season with three straight 9-0 victories—beating Central (Iowa), Wartburg, and Bethany Lutheran. … Bethel heads into Saturday's showdown against Saint Mary's having not dropped a set in their 18 singles matches this season. BU lost just 12 games in its 9-0 sweep of Bethany Lutheran, while losing just 18 games in blanking Wartburg last Saturday. … Hunter Fernelius, Nick Knudsen, and Peter Lindberg are all 3-0 this season, while Jakob Bartels, Zeke Delain, and Zach Kantor have won each of the two singles matches they've played, and Tanner Hermanson, Joey Mueller, and Noah Ridgway have accounted for the other three singles wins. … Bartels, Delain and Kantor own doubles wins in all three of the Royals' matches this season, while Fernelius, Ridgway, and Knudsen have won two, and Lindberg, Mueller, and Austin Buyse have won one.
 
Scouting The Wartburg Knights:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Knights kicked off their season on both ends of the spectrum, losing a 9-0 decision to Bethel and beating Bethany Lutheran by that same 9-0 count. … Wartburg dropped all six singles matches in straight sets—winning just a combined 18 games—against Bethel last Saturday. On the flip sde, the Knights lost just 17 games in sweeping their six singles matches against Bethany Lutheran in straight sets. … Connor Barnard, Sam Nettleton, Jeremy Ellerby, Nate Meister, Nate Kolz, and Will McDonald were all victorious in singles vs. BLC. … The Knights are coming off an 11-14 season in 2017—including a 5-3 mark in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. … Wartburg reached the semifinals of the IIAC post-season tournament a year ago, beating Nebraska Wesleyan 5-1 in its opening-round match, before falling to Coe 5-0 in the semifinals.