By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team returns to action this weekend, hosting a pair of conference matches at the Winona Tennis Center. The Cardinals will face St. Olaf in a 6 p.m. matchup on Friday, before entertaining St. Catherine in a noon showdown the following afternoon.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, March 15, 2019 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn. * 6 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 4-5 Overall) vs. St. Olaf Oles (1-2 MIAC, 2-2 Overall)
Saturday, March 16, 2019 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn. * Noon
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-3 MIAC, 4-5 Overall) vs. St. Catherine Wildcats (1-2 MIAC, 4-2 Overall)
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—March 8, 2019 * White Bear Lake, Minn.: The Cardinals picked up their second straight 6-3 victory, beating Macalester in a conference matchup at Lifetime Fitness | Recap
• St. Olaf—March 2, 2019 * U of M Baseline Tennis Center * Minneapolis, Minn.: The Oles came up empty in their conference match against Bethel, falling to the Royals 9-0 | Recap
• St. Catherine—March 8, 2019 * U of M Baseline Tennis Center * Minneapolis, Minn.: The Wildcats rolled to their fourth win of the season, dropping just four games in the three doubles matches and losing just five games in the six singles matches in blanking UM-Morris 9-0 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Olaf — Their Last Meeting:
• April 17, 2018 * Lifetime Fitness * Lakeville, Minn.: The Cardinals — still clinging to hopes of clinching a second straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament berth — got a straight-set win from Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) at No. 1 singles to break a 4-4 deadlock and lift Saint Mary's to a 5-4 conference win over the Oles | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. St. Catherine — Their Last Meeting:
• April 13, 2018 * U of M Baseline Tennis Center * Minneapolis, Minn.: A long layoff — not to mention a fast start by the Wildcats — proved to be the Cardinals' undoing, as St. Catherine dealt Saint Mary's a 7-2 conference setback | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Following this weekend's two conference matches, the Cardinals are off until March 24, when they return to the Winona Tennis Center for a conference showdown against Concordia. First serve is set for 9 a.m.
• St. Olaf: The Oles kick off their three-match spring trip to Orlando, Fla., on March 25, squaring off against George Fox. St. Olaf will also face UW-Oshkosh and Whitworth during its time in Florida.
• St. Catherine: The Wildcats are back in action next Saturday, heading to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center for a 9:30 a.m. conference matchup against Saint Benedict.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• This weekend's matches against St. Olaf and St. Catherine are the first of four straight home matches for the Cardinals — who have played seven of their first nine matches away from the Winona Tennis Center. … Saint Mary's win over Macalester last Friday was its second straight 6-3 victory. The Cardinals beat Hanover 6-3 on Feb. 26, a win that also snapped their season-high five-match losing streak. … In their 6-3 win over Macalester last Friday, the Cardinals picked up a pair of doubles wins by Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) at No. 1 and Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) and Ashley Frederickson (St. James, Minn.) at No. 3, while Sonday, Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.), Boeve, and Madyson Schreiber (Edwardsville, Ill.) were victorious in singles action. … Boeve — who had dropped just one game in winning her two singles matches to open the season — had her career-high 12-match winning streak snapped with a three-set, 5-7, 6-3, 10-4 loss to Gustavus on Feb. 9. … Sonday and Boeve enter this weekend's matches against St. Olaf and St. Catherine leading the team with five dual-match singles wins, one more than Barr. … Sonday — who shared the team lead in singles wins a year ago (16) with Boeve — played her 68th consecutive match at No. 1 singles against Macalester last Friday. … Boeve is currently No. 4 all-time with 51 singles wins — six behind career-leader Megan Vandenberg — while Sonday is sitting in fifth with 49. … Sonday is No. 2 all-time in doubles wins with 47, 11 back of career-leader Bailey Edwards. … Kennedy Morgan's (Green Bay, Wis.) win at No. 5 singles against Northwestern on Feb. 1 was her first collegiate singles victory. She became the third Cardinal to pick up collegiate win No. 1 this season, joining Kailee Johnson (Rochester, Minn.) and Schreiber, who notched their first singles wins against Martin Luther on Jan. 25. …  Sonday and Lois — who went 15-4 as a doubles pair a year ago — have won five doubles duals together this season. … Fredrickson is second to both Sonday and Lois with three doubles wins through nine matches. … With their 6-3 win over Hanover on Feb. 26, the Cardinals are now 52-20 against nonconference opponents since 2012. … With their season-opening win over Martin Luther on Jan. 25, the Cardinals have now opened the season with a 9-0 victory in four straight seasons. … The Cardinals are now 12-0 in their last 12 meetings with Martin Luther. … Sonday earned All-MIAC singles and doubles honors following her junior season a year ago, while Boeve collected her first collegiate First-Team All-MIAC singles honor, and Lois was a First-Team All-MIAC doubles selection in her first year as a Cardinal.
 
Scouting The St. Olaf Oles:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Friday's match against Saint Mary's is the fifth of nine straight road contests for the Oles, who do not play at home until April 5, when they host St. Catherine at Carlson Courts in Northfield, Minn. … Both of the Oles' wins this season have been 6-3 decisions — beating Hamline and Luther — while their two losses were an 8-1 setback against St. Thomas and a 9-0 loss to Bethel. … Ellie Bergstrand, Emily Otteson, and Greta Prokosch share the team lead with two singles wins each — Bergstrand is 2-2 at No. 3, while Otteson is 2-2 at No. 4, and Prokosch's owns an identical 2-2 mark at No. 5. … St. Olaf is still looking for its first win at No. 2 singles (0-4), while the Oles are 1-3 at No. 1 and No. 6. … St. Olaf has used the same doubles pairs in all four of its matches — Prokosch/Sabrina Barboza are 2-2 at No. 1, while Bergstrand/Otteson are 2-2 at No. 2, and Kelis Brandt/Teresa Fawcett are 1-3 at No. 3.
 
Scouting The St. Catherine Wildcats:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Saturday's match against Saint Mary's is the first road contest of the season for the Wildcats, who have played their first six matches on their home courts at the U of M Baseline Tennis Center. … All six of the Wildcats' matches have been decided by 8-1 or 9-0 scores. SCU owns 9-0 victories over both Martin Luther and UM-Morris, while beating both Northwestern and Macalester by 8-1 scores. St. Catherine's two losses have both been 8-1 decisions against St. Thomas and Carleton. … Leah Obert is a perfect 5-0 in singles play this year — all her wins coming at No. 5. … Obert's five wins are one more than Aubrey Eckstrom, Maddy Knoll, and Alisha Wiedmeier. … As a team, St. Catherine is 25-11 in singles play — going 6-0 at No. 5, 4-2 at Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6, and going 3-3 at No. 1. … Eckstrom, Bri Door, and Ellie Graham all share the team lead in doubles wins with four each, one more than Knoll and Wiedmeier. … SCU is 11-7 in doubles play, 4-2 at Nos. 1 and 3 and 3-3 at No. 2.