By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
A quick-hit, by-the-numbers look at the 2019 Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team.
 
Head coach:
• Jeff Halberg (21st season)
 
A Year Ago:
• 1-8 MIAC (9th) | 7-11 Overall
 
Returners to Watch:
• Bobby Tiedemann (Junior | Led the team with 10 singles wins in 2018 and has now led or shared the team lead each of his first two seasons. … Shared the team lead with 10 dual-match doubles wins a year ago. … Played in all 18 matches last season. … Put together a team- and career-high six-match singles winning streak).
• Robbie Sobczak (Junior | Finished 2018 second on the team with eight singles wins, while adding eight doubles victories. … Played in all 18 matches a year ago). … Was named honorable-mention All-MIAC during the 2018 Cardinal men's soccer season).
• Alec Rudh (Sophomore | Picked up five singles during his first season with the Cardinals in 2018. … Recorded his first collegiate singles win with a straight-set victory against Martin Luther on Jan. 26, 2018).
 
By The Numbers:
• 0: 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.
• 3-1: The Cardinals closed out the 2018 season having won three of their last four matches—including a season-ending 5-4 thriller over Hamline on April 21.
• 10 x 2: Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) closed out the year as the Cardinals' singles wins leader with 10, while sharing the team lead with 10 dual-match doubles wins.
• 54-19: Saint Mary's finished 6-3 in nonconference play a year ago and are now 54-19 in nonconference matches since 2012.
 
Did You Know?:
• Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.) was the only Cardinal to have played every match at the same position in 2018 — playing all 18 contests at No. 1 singles.
 
Off The Court:
• The Cardinal men earned the ITA's All-Academic Award in 2018, while Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.), Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.), Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.), Alec Rudh (Hastings, Minn.), Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.), Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.), and Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.) represented Saint Mary's as ITA Scholar Athletes.
 
Off The Court II:
• Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.), Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.), Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.), Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.), and Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) were all named to the MIAC Spring Academic All-Conference Team for 2017-18.
 
This and That:
• The Cardinals finished the 2018 season 3-7 on their home court, while going 4-4 away from the Winona Tennis Center. … Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) had his career-high 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 of 2017, and the first three in 2018. … Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.) kicked off his 2018 senior season a year ago 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 12 overall singles wins last season. … Tiedemann and Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.) shared the team lead in dual-match doubles wins with 10, one more than both Amiotte and Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.), and two in front of Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.). … The Cardinals used 11 different doubles combinations this season. … As a team, Saint Mary's finished 42-66 in singles play, while going 29-34 in doubles action. … 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. … The Cardinals posted three 9-0 victories, sweeping both Martin Luther and North Central, while adding a pair of 8-1 wins — beating Wartburg and Edgewood — and a 6-3 triumph over Lawrence. … 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.