By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's tennis team heads to the University of Minnesota's Baseline Tennis Center for a pair of conference matches this weekend. The Cardinals will square off against Bethel in a 7 p.m. match on Friday, before facing St. Thomas at 4 p.m. the following day
 
The Matchups:
Friday, February 22, 2019 * Minneapolis, Minn.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 4-2 Overall) at Bethel Royals (0-1 MIAC, 4-2 Overall), 7 p.m.
• Saturday, February 23, 2019 * Minneapolis, Minn.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1 MIAC, 4-2 Overall) at St. Thomas Tommies (0-0 MIAC, 2-0 Overall), 4 p.m.
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—February 16, 2019 * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals picked up a pair of nonconference wins at the Winona Tennis Center, dropping St. Norbert 7-2, before rallying with a pair of three-set singles wins to edge Wartburg 5-4 | SNC Recap * Wartburg Recap
• Bethel—February 16, 2019 * St. Peter, Minn.: The Royals played a pair of matches at Gustavus' Swanson Indoor Tennis Center, falling to the Gusties 9-0 in conference action, before bouncing back with a 4-3 nonconference win over Augustana (S.D.) later in the day) | Recap
• St. Thomas—February 9, 2019 * Davenport, Iowa: The Tommies picked up a pair of convincing nonconference wins, dropping just one match in rolling to a 9-0 win over the University of Dubuque and an 8-1 victory over St. Ambrose | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Bethel — Their Last Meeting:
• February 10, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) collected wins in both singles and doubles in Saint Mary's conference match against Bethel at the Winona Tennis Center. Unfortunately, the Cardinals were not able to give Sobczak much help, as the Royals won the seven matches he wasn't involved in in dealing the Cardinals a 7-2 setback | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Thomas — Their Last Meeting:
• March 9, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.) teamed for an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles, but that would be the lone highlight for the Cardinals in their conference match against St. Thomas, as the Tommies dealt Saint Mary's an 8-1 setback at the Winona Tennis Center| Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Following this weekend's matches, the Cardinals head to Orlando, Fla., for spring break, squaring off against Hanover in a 6 p.m. nonconference match on Tuesday.
• Bethel: The Royals are back on the courts on Saturday, heading to Lifetime Fitness in Bloomington, Minn., for a 5:30 p.m. MIAC match against Carleton.
• St. Thomas: The Tommies return to action next Friday, returning to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for an 8 p.m. conference contest against Hamline.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Saint Mary's matches against St. Norbert and Wartburg last Saturday were 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 on Feb. 9. Saint Mary's will play its next four matches on the road, not returning home until March 10, when the Cardinals host Hamline. … Saint Mary's win over St. Norbert last Saturday marked the third 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, while falling to St. Scholastica by the same count on Feb. 9. The Cardinals' 7-2 streak ended later in the day last Saturday, when Saint Mary's beat Wartburg 5-4. … Bobby Tiedemann (Euclid, Minn.) and Gabe Graves (Columbine, Colo.) both went 4-0 in leading the Cardinal men's tennis team to nonconference wins over St. Norbert and Wartburg last Saturday. … With his two wins last weekend, Tiedemann moved into the team lead with four dual-match singles victories, one more than Graves, Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.), and Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.). … Kurilla and Smiley 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 — while Brandon Johnson (St. James, Minn.) notched his first singles win as a Cardinal with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles against St. Norbert last Saturday. … Graves and Johnson lead the team with five doubles wins each, one more than both Smiley and Tiedemann. … As a doubles team, Graves/Johnson head into this weekend riding a four-match doubles winning streak. … The Cardinals have been victorious at No. 3 doubles in five of their six matches this season. … With their 7-2 win over St. Norbert and 5-4 victory against Wartburg last Saturday, the Cardinals moved to 58-20 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 Bethel Royals:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• The Royals' 4-3 nonconference win over NCAA Division II Augustana (S.D.) snapped their two-match losing streak. Bethel had opened the season with back-to-back-to-back wins over Central-Iowa (9-0), Northwestern-Iowa (9-0), and St. Scholastica (6-3), before falling to UW-Eau Claire (8-1) and Gustavus (9-0). … Hunter Fernelius, Zach Kantor, and Jason Reilly recorded singles wins for BU vs. Augustana, while the Royals also got doubles wins from Fernelius/Erik Beckers and Joey Mueller/Jason Reilly. … Fernelius, Kantor, and Reilly share the team lead with four singles wins this season, one more than Mueller and Nick Knudsen. … As a team, the Royals are 20-16 in singles play  — going 4-2 at Nos. 1, 3 and 5, while going 3-3 at Nos. 4 and 6, and 2-4 at No. 2. … Bethel has used the same doubles pairings in all six of their matches this season. Mueller/Reilly are 4-2 at No. 3, while Knudsen/Kantor and Beckers/Fernelius are 3-3 at No. 2 and No. 1, respectively. … Three of the Royals' four wins have come at home, where BU is 3-0. The Royals are 1-2 on the road this season.
 
Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• The Tommies kicked off their 2019 campaign in convincing fashion with a 9-0 victory over the University of Dubuque and an 8-1 triumph against St. Ambrose on Feb. 9. … The Tommies are coming off a 6-10 season in 2018 — including a 3-6 mark in conference play. … St. Thomas got singles wins from eight different players in their wins over Dubuque and St. Ambrose on Feb. 9. Zach Levene and Eshan Varma are the only Tommies to pick up victories in both matches, while Tristan Fjelstad, Alex Meyer, Erich Nuss, Jordan Schenck, Sterling Sibley, and Nick Vossen collected the other six singles victories. … Schenck/Varma and Nuss/Vossen were a perfect 2-0 during the Tommies' season-opening wins over Dubuque and St. Ambrose, while Fjelstad picked up wins in both doubles matches, teaming with Sibley for one win and Derek Davis for the other. … Vossen closed out 2018 as the team's singles leader with nine wins, one more than Schenck and Zach LeVene. … Schenck/Vossen and Sibley/Ben Wait were the Tommie leaders in doubles wins with three each last season. … St. Thomas used 10 doubles combinations a year ago.