By Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team has a busy weekend ahead, as the Cardinals host Saint John's in a 6 p.m. conference match at the Winona Tennis Center on Friday, before heading to Appleton, Wis., to take on Lawrence on Saturday at 5 p.m., and then on to Green Bay, Wis., for a 9 a.m. matchup against St. Norbert on Sunday.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, March 23, 2018 * Winona Tennis Center, Winona, Minn. * 6 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-6 MIAC, 4-9 overall) vs. Saint John's Johnnies (2-0 MIAC, 8-1 overall)
Saturday, March 24, 2018 * Fox Cities Racquet Club, Appleton, Wis. * 5 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-9 overall) at Lawrence Vikings (5-5 overall)
Sunday, March 25, 2018 * Western Racquet Club, Green Bay, Wis. * 9 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-9 overall) at St. Norbert Green Knights (4-3 overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Saint John's GameDay Program | Senior Salute (PDF * HTML)
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—March 18, 2018 * Fargo, N.D.: The Cardinals turned in what coach Jeff Halberg termed, "one of their best performances of the season," but had nothing to short for their efforts, as the Cobbers dealt Saint Mary's a 9-0 setback at Courts Plus | Recap
• Saint John's—March 9, 2018 * Orlando, Fla.: The Johnnies closed out their spring trip with their second straight 8-1 victory, this time dropping the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy | Recap
• Lawrence—March 19, 2018 * Orlando, Fla.: The Vikings closed out their spring trip on a winning note, rolling to an 8-1 win over Elmhurst | Recap
• St. Norbert—March 20, 2018 * Green Bay, Wis.: The Green Knights returned to action after an 11-day hiatus to rout Marian 9-0 in a nonconference match at the Western Racquet Club | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint John's—Their Last Meeting:
• April 22, 2017 * Collegeville, Minn.: The Cardinals fell behind 3-0 after the three doubles matches of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finale against Saint John's, and despite collecting three singles wins, the deficit was too great, as the Johnnies held on for a 6-3 victory | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Lawrence—Their Last Meeting:
• February 27, 2017 * Appleton, Wis.: Saint Mary's rallied from a 2-1 deficit after the three doubles matches, winning five of the six singles matches—including three, three-setters—to outlast Lawrence 6-3 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Norbert—Their Last Meeting:
• February 28, 2017 * De Pere, Wis.: Saint Mary's—coming off 7-2 and 6-3 wins over Milwaukee School of Engineering and Lawrence, respectively, over the past two days—made it 3-for-3, cruising to an 8-1 nonconference win over St. Norbert | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are now off until April 14, when they head to Northfield, Minn., for a 1 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match against St. Olaf.
• Saint John's: The Johnnies are back on the road on Sunday, traveling to Bloomington, Minn., for a noon nonconference match against Augustana (S.D.).
• Lawrence: The Vikings return to the courts next Friday, heading to the YMCA Tennis Center in Oshkosh, Wis., for a 7 p.m. matchup against Marian.
• St. Norbert: The Green Knights do not return to action until April 7, when they entertain Grinnell and Cornell in a pair of matches at the Western Racquet Club in Green Bay, Wis.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• Friday's match against Saint John's is the final home match of the season for the Cardinals—and the final match at the Winona Tennis Center for SMU seniors Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.), Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.), Ryan Hippman (Bollingbrook, Ill.), Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.), and Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.). … Three of the Cardinals' four wins this season have come on their home courts—Saint Mary's is 3-6 at the Winona Tennis Center, while going 1-3 away from home. … Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) is the team's dual-match singles wins leader with seven, two more than Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.). … Tiedeman had his six-match singles winning streak snapped with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 loss at No. 4 against Bethel on Feb. 10. Tiedeman's winning streak covered wins in his last three singles matches a year ago, and the first three this season. … Amiotte, who is the only Cardinal to have played every match at the same position—playing all 13 contests at No. 1 singles—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, giving him eight overall singles wins thus far this season. … Tiedemann and Amiotte share the team lead in dual-match doubles wins with seven, one more than Zuzek, Holm, and Sobczak. … Saint Mary's lost just nine games in their six straight-set singles wins vs. Martin Luther on Jan. 26—including 6-0, 6-0 wins by Sobczak at No. 3 and Zuzek at No. 6. … Amiotte/Tiedemann, Sobczak/Holm, and Zuzek/Gabe Graves (Littleton, Colo.) combined to drop just three games in doubles play against Martin Luther on Jan. 26. … With their losses to both Hanover and Adrian, the Cardinals have now dropped three, 6-3 decisions this season. … The Cardinals have now posted a pair of 9-0 victories, sweeping both Martin Luther and North Central, while the other two were decided by 8-1 scores—beating Wartburg and Edgewood. … The Cardinals did not drop a game—in singles or doubles—in rolling to their 9-0 win over North Central on March 16. … The Cardinals have now swept North Central in each of their last three meetings. … With their win over North Central on March 16, the Cardinals are now to 52-19 in nonconference matches since 2012. … Fueled by their 8-1 win over Edgewood on Feb. 23, the Cardinals improved to 4-0 against the Falcons all-time—sandwiching 9-0 wins around a pair of 8-1 victories. … 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 Saint John's Johnnies:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Johnnies head into Friday's match against Saint Mary's riding a three-match winning streak. … SJU had its season-opening five-match winning streak snapped with a 6-3 loss to Rhodes on March 6 in Orlando, Fla. … After opening the season with three straight home matches, the Johnnies are in the midst of playing 10 consecutive road contests. … Thomas Gillach and Jonah Punnoose enter Friday's conference match against Saint Mary's owning a team-leading seven dual-match singles wins, one more than Nate Jordre, Tim Larson, and Ryan Meger. … Jordre has not dropped a singles match this season, riding a six-match winning streak into Friday's showdown with Saint Mary's. … As a team, the Johnnies—who are 45-9 in singles play—have not lost at No. 6 singles this season (9-0), while going 8-1 at Nos. 3 and 4; 7-2 at Nos. 1 and 5, and 6-3 at No. 2. … Tim Larson leads SJU with nine doubles wins, one more than Gillach. … Larson has played all nine matches at No. 1 doubles—teaming with Gillach to go 8-0, while also adding a win with Hunter Krebsbach. … As a team, the Johnnies are 22-5 in doubles play. … Saint John's has recorded three 9-0 victories, while also adding three 8-1 decisions.
 
Scouting The Lawrence Vikings:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Vikings put an end to their season-high three-match losing streak with an 8-1 win over Elmhurst last Monday. … Three of Lawrence's five wins have been 8-1 decisions. The Vikings also own one 9-0 sweep, and a 5-4 victory. On the flip side, four of Lawrence's five losses have been 9-0 decisions, while the other was an 8-1 setback. … Cade Francour is the team's singles wins leader with five, one more than Connor Maloney and Aidan Delgado. … The Vikings have used at least three different players at all six singles positions this season—including Evan Oriel, who has played at least one match at Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles. … As a team, Lawrence is 5-5 at Nos. 2 and 4 singles, while going 4-6 at Nos. 3, 5, and 6. The Vikings are 3-7 at No. 1 singles. … The doubles teams of Connor Maloney/Bill Schuman-Kline and Delgado/Francour share the team lead with three wins each. … Lawrence has used 14 different doubles combinations through 10 matches—including eight different combinations at No. 3 and seven at No. 2. … Saturday's match against Saint Mary's is just the second home match of the season for the Vikings, who are 0-1 at home and 5-4 on the road.
 
Scouting The St. Norbert Green Knights:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• After opening the season 2-3, the Green Knights have put together back-to-back victories—beating Edgewood (7-2) and Marian (9-0). … St. Norbert's 9-0 win over Marian last Tuesday was its third 9-0 sweep of the season. … Alex Vandenberg and Ben Vende Zande share the team lead with four singles wins, one more than Jordan Crump, Matt La Violette, and John Zanotti. … All 11 SNC singles players head into Sunday's match against Saint Mary's having won their last time out. Vandenberg leads the way, boasting a four-match singles winning streak. … As a team, the Green Knights are 26-16 in singles play—going 5-2 at No. 1, 3-4 at No. 2, 4-3 at Nos. 3, 4, and 5, and 6-1 at No. 6. … Vandenberg and Joe Oleniczak have recorded a team-best four doubles wins—all at No. 3. … Vandenberg/Oleniczak enter the match against Saint Mary's have won their last four matches. … The Green Knights are 13-8 in doubles play, boasting a 4-3 record at No. 1, a 3-4 mark at No. 2, and a near-perfect 6-1 record at No. 3. … Four of St. Norbert's seven matches have been played at home. SNC is 3-1 on its home court, while going 1-2 away from the Western Racquet Club.