By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team is back in action on Friday, as the Cardinals entertain Northwestern (Minn.) in a 6 p.m. nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center
 
The Matchups:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-1 Overall) vs. Northwestern Eagles (0-0 Overall)
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—January 25-26, 2019 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals kicked off their season with a hard-fought 6-3 nonconference win over Martin Luther last Friday, before falling to nationally ranked Carleton 9-0 in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opener the following day. Both matches were played at the Winona Tennis Center | MLC Recap * Carleton Recap
• Northwestern: Friday's nonconference match against Saint Mary's is the Eagles' season-opener.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Northwestern — Their Last Meeting:
• April 19, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals got off to a slow start in their nonconference match against Northwestern at the Winona Tennis Center, dropping two of three doubles matches to head into singles action staring at a 2-1 deficit. Fortunately for coach Jeff Halberg, Saint Mary's proved to have quite the finishing kick, as the Cardinals won five of the six singles matches en route to a 6-3 victory | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals will play their first road match of the season on Feb. 9, heading to Gustavus' Swanson Indoor Tennis Center in St. Peter, Minn., for a nonconference, neutral-site match against St. Scholastica.
• Northwestern: The Eagles are back on the road on Feb. 9, heading to STA-Fit Tennis Center in Sartell, Minn., for a 1 p.m. nonconference match against Saint John's.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• With their 6-3 nonconference win over Martin Luther last Friday, the Cardinals improved to 13-0 against the Knights — including six 9-0 wins in their last seven contests. … The Cardinals head into Friday's contest against Northwestern (Minn.) with a 55-19 record in nonconference matches since 2012. … Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) — the team's singles wins leader a year ago with 10 — opened the 2019 campaign with a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles against Martin Luther last Friday. … Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.) picked up Saint Mary's other two singles wins against Martin Luther last Friday — Smiley winning 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, while Kurilla needed three sets to post a 6-1, 1-6, 10-8 victory at No. 3. … The singles wins against Martin Luther last Friday were the first of their collegiate careers for Smiley and Kurilla. … Tiedemann/Smiley, Kurilla/Gabe Graves (Columbine, Colo.), and Brandon Johnson (St. James, Minn.)/Jared Hippman (Bollingbrook, Ill.) all teamed for doubles victories vs. Martin Luther last Friday. … 
 
Scouting The Northwestern Eagles:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2018 Final Statistics
• The Eagles head into Friday's season-opening at Saint Mary's coming off a 13-11 overall record a year ago, including a near-perfect 6-1 conference mark — and a UMAC Tournament championship, beating St. Scholastica 5-4 in the title match. … With their UMAC Tournament title, the Eagles secured the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance. Northwestern fell to Coe 5-0 in their NCAA-opening match. … The Eagles were picked to finish second in the 2019 UMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, garnering one first-place vote and 42 points, seven back of No. 1 St. Scholastica. … The Eagles return a pair of All-UMAC selections in Landon Ridpath and Davis Pfaff, but will be without the services of graduated seniors Joshua Kimball and C.J. Lloyd — who combined for 28 singles wins and 28 doubles victories in 2018. … Kimball closed out the year last season with a team-high 15 singles wins, two more than Lloyd. Ridpath (12), Pfaff (11), Spencer Deveau (10), and Cameron Fair (10) also recorded 10 or more singles wins last year. … As a team, the Eagles finished the year 77-67 in singles play — including 39-9 in UMAC action. … UNW went 15-9 at No. 3 singles, while going 14-10 at No. 2, 13-11 at Nos. 1 and 6, and 11-13 at Nos. 4 and 5. … Along with his team-leading 15 singles wins, Kimball also led the Eagles in doubles victories with 16, while Fair (14), Pfaff (14), and Ridpath (13) also recorded more than 10 doubles wins. … Northwestern dropped just two doubles matches in UMAC play in 2018, finishing 22-2. … The Eagles went 9-3 on their home courts in 2018, while posting a 5-5 record on the road and an 0-2 mark in neutral-site matches.