By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team steps out of conference play for a pair of matches at the Winona Tennis Center on Saturday, as the Cardinals host St. Norbert at 12:30 p.m., and square off against Wartburg at 6 p.m.
 
The Matchups:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-2 Overall) vs. St. Norbert Green Knights (0-1 Overall)
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-2 Overall) vs. Wartburg Knights (2-2 Overall)
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—February 9, 2019 * St. Peter, Minn.: The Cardinals could not keep pace with high-powered St. Scholastica, as the Saints jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles competition and never looked back in dealing Saint Mary's a 7-2 nonconference loss at Gustavus' Swanson Tennis Center | Recap
• St. Norbert—February 9, 2019 * Green Bay, Wis.: The Green Knights dropped their season opener, falling to Milwaukee Schools of Engineering 7-2at Western Racquet & Fitness Club | Recap
• Wartburg—February 3, 2019 * Elmhurst, Ill.: The Knights picked up wins in two of the three doubles matches and earned three singles wins to hold off Elmhurst 5-4 in a nonconference match | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Norbert — Their Last Meeting:
• March 25, 2018 * De Pere, Wis.: The Cardinals came from behind to win all three doubles matches and added straight-set wins in all six singles matches in dropping the Green Knights 9-0 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Wartburg — Their Last Meeting:
• February 11, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals, coming off a 7-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to unbeaten Bethel, rebounded in impressive fashion, cruising to an 8-1 win over Wartburg in a nonconference match at the Winona Tennis Center | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action next Friday and Saturday, when they hit the road for pair of conference contests at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Saint Mary's will face Bethel at 7 p.m. on Friday, before squaring off against St. Thomas at 4 p.m. the following day.
• St. Norbert: The Green Knights return to action on Friday, heading to the Four Seasons Tennis Club in Green Bay, Wis., for a 6:30 p.m. match against Edgewood.
• Wartburg: The Knights are back in action — and back on the road — next Saturday, traveling to Mount Vernon, Iowa, for matches against Cornell (9 a.m.) and Quinicy (noon).
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Saint Mary's matches against St. Norbert and Wartburg on Saturday are the fifth and sixth home contests of the season for the Cardinals, who have played just one match this season away from the Winona Tennis Center — falling to St. Scholastica 7-2 last Saturday. … Saint Mary's loss to St. Scholastica last Saturday marked the second straight match decided by a 7-2 decision — the Cardinals swept all three doubles matches, while adding four singles wins en route to the 7-2 win over Northwestern on Feb. 2. … Gabe Graves (Columbine, Colo.) and Brandon Johnson (St. James, Minn.) teamed for a 9-8 (3) win at No. 3 doubles against St. Scholastica last Saturday, while Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.) added a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles against the Saints. … Kurilla has now won back-to-back singles matches and has picked up wins in three of the Cardinals' first four matches. … Kurilla and Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) both recorded their first collegiate singles wins against Martin Luther on Jan. 25 — Smiley won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, while Kurilla posted a 6-1, 1-6, 10-8 win at No. 3. … Bobby Tiedemann — last year's singles wins leader with 10 — and Smiley are second to Kurilla with two singles wins through four matches. … Graves and Johnson share the team lead with three doubles victories. … The Cardinals have swept the three doubles matches in both of their wins this season. … With their 7-2 win over Northwestern on Feb. 1 and 7-2 loss to St. Scholastica last Saturday, the Cardinals moved to 56-20 in nonconference matches since 2012. … Fueled by their 6-3 nonconference win over Martin Luther on Jan. 25, the Cardinals improved to 13-0 against the Knights — including six 9-0 wins in their last seven contests.
 
Scouting The St. Norbert Green Knights:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• St. Norbert enters the 2019 season coming off a 9-9 showing a year ago. … The Green Knights kicked off their 2019 campaign with a 7-2 loss to Milwaukee School of Engineering. Luke Andrekus recorded a three-set, 6-1, 4-6, 10-4 win at No. 5 singles against the Raiders, while Jordan Crump/Matt La Violette delivered an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles for SNC's other win. …Crump and Robert Quinlan closed out 2018 as the team's singles wins leaders with seven dual-match victories each, while Andrekus, Alex Vandenberg, and John Zanotti all finished with six. … With his win against MSOE, Andrekus pushed his dual-match singles winning streak to seven — the junior was a perfect 6-0 in singles play a year ago. … Vandenberg and Joe Oleniczak teamed to post a team-leading eight doubles victories, one more than the team of Quinlan/Ben Vande Zande. … As a team, St. Norbert compiled a 55-53 in singles play in 2018, while going 29-25 in doubles.
 
Scouting The Wartburg Knights:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Saturday's matches against Saint Mary's and St. Norbert are the fifth and sixth of 11 straight road contests to open the season for the Knights, who do not play a home match until hosting Crown and Iowa Central on March 15-16. … After opening the season 0-2, Wartburg has rattled off back-to-back wins — beating MSOE (7-2 and Elmhurst (5-4). … Wartburg's win over Elmhurst on Feb. 3 was its first vs. the Bluejays in program history. … Will McDonald, Grant Kincaid, and Nate Kolz picked up singles wins against Elmhurst on Feb. 3, while Kolz/Samuel Nettleton and Kincaid/Jonathan Lansink were winners in doubles. … Kincaid, Kolz, and Lucas Huffman have also recorded a team-leading two wins among the Knights' first four dual matches — Kincaid and Kolz entering Saturday's matches against Saint Mary's and St. Norbert owns two-match winning streaks. … Lansink, McDonald, Nettleton, and Ben Mason own Wartburg's other four singles wins through four matches. … As a team, Wartburg — which sports a 10-14 record in singles action — is 2-2 at Nos. 1, 4, 5, and 6 singles, while going 1-3 at Nos. 2 and 3. … Nettleton owns a team-high three doubles wins, one more than Huffman, Kincaid, Lansink, and McDonald. … Wartburg is 3-1 at No. 3 doubles, while going 2-2 at Nos. 1 and 2. … Wartburg, which is 7-5 in doubles play, has used 12 different doubles combinations already this season.