By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team returns to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend, as the Cardinals entertain Macalester (12:30 p.m.) on Saturday and Gustavus (11:30 a.m.) on Sunday, with both matches taking place at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
The Matchups:
Saturday, February 17, 2018 * Winona, Tennis Center * 12:30 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 2-4 overall) vs. Macalester Scots (0-0 MIAC, 1-0 overall)
Sunday, February 18, 2018 * Winona, Tennis Center * 11:30 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 2-4 overall) vs. Gustavus Gusties (0-0 MIAC, 0-2 overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• GameDay Programs: Macalester * Gustavus
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—February 10, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals dropped their second conference match of the season, falling to unbeaten Bethel 6-3 at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
• Macalester—February 10, 2018 * White Bear Lake, Minn.: The Scots picked up a pair of doubles wins and won four of the six singles matches in opening their season with a 6-3 nonconference win over St. Scholastica at Lifetime Fitness | Recap
• Gustavus—February 8-9, 2018 * Florida: The Gusties dropped both of their matches in their season-opening spring trip to Florida, falling to Saint Leo 9-0 and Rollins College 6-3 | Leo Recap | Rollins Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Macalester—A Year Ago:
• March 24, 2017 * White Bear Lake, Minn.: Friday's match against Macalester marked the first time in 10 matches that the Saint Mary's women's tennis team did not play to a 9-0 decision. Fortunately for coach Jeff Halberg, the first non-9-0 decision—a 6-3 victory—had the Cardinals coming out with the win | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Gustavus—A Year Ago:
• March 11, 2017 * St. Peter, Minn.: Saint Mary's entered its MIAC match against nationally ranked Gustavus riding a pair of streaks. Streak #1: A four-match winning streak; Streak #2: All seven of the Cardinals' matches thus far had been decided by 9-0 decisions. Unfortunately, when the dust finally settled, only one streak remained in tact—Gustavus put an end to Saint Mary's four-match winning streak—while pushing the Cardinals' run of 9-0 decisions to eight—with a 9-0 victory at the Swanson Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals step out of conference play next Friday, traveling to Madison, Wis., for a 5:30 p.m. nonconference match against Edgewood.
• Macalester: The Scots are back in conference play next Saturday, squaring off against St. Thomas in a 5:30 p.m. match at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Gustavus: The Gusties are back in action next weekend, heading to Greencastle, Ind., for matches against DePauw on Saturday, and William Woods and Northwestern Ohio on Sunday.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• After four straight road matches, this weekend's matches against Macalester and Gustavus are the second and third straight home contests for the Cardinals. … Saint Mary's 8-1 win over UW-Superior on Feb. 4 snapped the Cardinals' three match losing streak. … Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.), Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.), and Sheyenne Bauer (Cannon Falls, Minn.) all recorded singles wins against Bethel last Saturday—with Bauer needing three sets to clinch a 7-6 (7), 1-6, 10-8 win at No. 6. … Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.) had her three-match singles winning streak snapped with a 6-4, 6-2 loss at No. 2 against Bethel last Saturday. … With her win at No. 1 singles last Saturday against Bethel, Sonday moved into a tie for the team lead in dual-match singles wins (4) with Barr. Bauer, Boeve, and Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) are second with three singles victories. … As a team, the Cardinals are 4-2 at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, while going 3-3 at No. 3, No. 4, and No. 6. … With last Saturday's match against Bethel, Sonday has now played 44 consecutive matches at No. 1 singles for the Cardinals. … Sonday and Lois had their five-match doubles winning streak snapped with an 8-2 loss at No. 1 against Bethel last Saturday. … Sonday/Lois have accounted for five of the Cardinals' nine doubles wins this season. … Lois 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 Sonday for a pair of doubles wins at the ITA/Oracle Midwest Region Tournament. … Boeve and Ashley Frederickson (St. James, Minn.) won their doubles draw at the Gustavus Fall Invitational last September, winning three straight matches. … The Cardinals are 19-17 in singles play this season, while owning a 9-9 record in doubles play. … With their season-opening win over Martin Luther last Friday, the Cardinals have now opened the season with a 9-0 victory in three straight seasons. … The Cardinals are now 11-0 in their last 11 meetings with Martin Luther. … The Cardinals won all six singles matches against Martin Luther in straight sets. All six Saint Mary's singles players recorded at least one 6-0 set against MLC—including a 6-0, 6-0 win by Boeve at No. 4 and a 6-1, 6-0 victory by Lois at No. 3. … The Cardinals, who went 7-1 in nonconference play a year ago, are 44-15 in non-MIAC matches since 2012. … The Cardinals made their first MIAC Playoff appearance since 2010 a year ago, falling to third-seeded St. Thomas 5-0.
 
Scouting The Macalester Scots:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Scots, coming off an 8-9 season a year ago—including a 4-6 showing in conference play—kicked off their 2018 season with a 6-3 win over St. Scholastica. … Macalester picked up four singles wins against the Saints—getting straight-set victories from Laurel Hickey, Claire Buehler, and Maegan O'Herin, while Lily Stein chipped in a three-set, 6-2, 5-7, 10-1 triumph. … Hickey/Natali Sorajia and Stein/O'Herin chipped in doubles wins against St. Scholastica. … Stein was the team leader in singles wins a year ago with 12, two more than Jessica Ilc and three better than O'Herin. … Delia Brown and Claire Buehler were the Scots' top doubles team a year ago, teaming for six wins, two better than Stein/Jen Koehler. … Three of Macalester's eight wins in 2017 were 5-4 victories. The Scots also had two 8-1 victories and a pair of 9-0 sweeps.
 
Scouting The Gustavus Gusties:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Gusties, picked to finish third in the MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll—after winning the MIAC Playoff title in 2017—enters the season ranked No. 29 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division III National Poll. … The Gusties head into Sunday's match still searching for their first win of the season, having dropped its two spring trip matches to Saint Leo and Rollins. … Katie Aney and Ginger Valentine accounted for Gustavus' two singles wins in its 6-3 loss to Rollins, while Sheila Sullivan and Laura Martin teamed for a 9-7 win at No. 3 doubles. … Aney closed out 2017 as the team's singles wins leader, going 10-0 in MIAC play, while finishing 22-2 in dual-matches and 24-3 overall. … Aney—who won her last 10 singles matches a year ago—was one of six Gusties with 10 or more singles wins in 2017 and was joined by Briana Hartmann (21-6) with more than 20 singles victories. … Aney played every singles position but No. 2 and No. 6 last season—going 1-0 at No. 1, 2-0 at No. 3, 7-0 at No. 4, and 12-2 at No. 5. … As a team, Gustavus went 117-44 in dual matches a year ago. … Gustavus boasted six players—Aney (23), Lilly Hartman (23), Ally Baker (21), Michaela Schultz (21), Cal Carlson (18), and Hartmann (18)—with 18 or more doubles wins. … As a duo, Aney and Hartman finished 20-4 at No. 3 doubles last season.