By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — It's another busy weekend for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's tennis team. The Cardinals host Hamline in a 5 p.m. MIAC match at the Winona Tennis Center on Friday, before heading to River Falls, Wis., to take on UW-River Falls in a 1 p.m. nonconference match on Saturday. Saint Mary's closes out the weekend at the CSB Tennis Courts in St. Joseph, Minn., on Sunday, squaring off against Saint Benedict in a 1 p.m. conference showdown.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, April 5, 2019 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn. * 5 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-3 MIAC, 10-5 Overall) vs. Hamline Pipers (0-5 MIAC, 7-7 Overall)
Saturday, April 6, 2019 * Ramer Field Courts * River Falls, Wis. * 1 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (10-5 Overall) at UW-River Falls Falcons (3-8 Overall)
Sunday, April 7, 2019 * CSB Tennis Courts * St. Joseph, Minn. * 1 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-3 MIAC, 10-5 Overall) at Saint Benedict Bennies (X-X MIAC, X-X Overall)
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—March 29-31, 2019 * Winona, Minn./Green Bay, Wis./Jackson, Wis.: The Cardinals cruised to three straight nonconference wins over the weekend, blanking both Crown and St. Norbert, before completing the trifecta with a 6-3 win against Concordia (Wis.) | Crown Recap * SNC Recap * CUW Recap
• UW-River Falls—March 23, 2019 * Ramer Field Courts * River Falls, Wis.: The Falcons jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, and got three singles victories — including a three-set, 6-1, 5-7, 1-0 win at No. 4 — to edge Martin Luther 5-4 | Recap
• Saint Benedict/Hamline—March 30, 2019 * U of M Baseline Tennis Center * Minneapolis, Minn.: In a match that was about as close as you could get, Saint Benedict jumped out to a 2-1 lead and picked up wins in three of the six singles matches — including a three-set marathon victory by Erin Kolbow at No. 5 — to seal the win | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Hamline — Their Last Meeting:
• April 21, 2018 * Minneapolis, Minn.: The Cardinals — fueled by five straight-set singles wins — picked up their second conference win in the last five days, rolling to an 8-1 victory over the Pipers at the U of M Baseline Tennis Center | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-River Falls — Their Last Meeting:
• March 27, 2018 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's entered its nonconference match against UW-River Falls owning a perfect 15-0 record in the teams' last 15 meetings. Make that 16-0 in their last 16 meetings. The Cardinals won all six singles matches — including five in straight sets — in dealing the Falcons an 8-1 nonconference setback | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint Benedict — Their Last Meeting:
• April 22, 2018 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn.: Saint Benedict grabbed a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, and the Bennies held off the Cardinals' comeback attempt — getting a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win at No. 2 singles to seal a 5-4 victory, and foil Saint Mary's bid for a second straight MIAC Tournament appearance | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Following their three matches this weekend, the Cardinals are off until next weekend, when they entertain Carleton in a 6:30 p.m. MIAC matchup on Friday at the Winona Tennis Center, before closing out the regular-season with a 12:30 p.m. nonconference home match against Luther on Saturday.
• Hamline: The Pipers play their first home match of the season at Holt Courts on Sunday, as Hamline plays host to Macalester in an 11 a.m. conference contest.
• UW-River Falls: The Falcons are right back in action on Sunday, heading to Bemidji, Minn., for a pair of nonconference matches against Bemidji State and UM-Crookston.
• Saint Benedict: The Bennies do not return to action until next weekend, as they host St. Olaf in a 10 a.m. MIAC matchup on Saturday at the CSB Tennis Courts, before heading to Gustavus' Swanson Tennis Center in St. Peter, Minn., for a 3 p.m. showdown against the Gusties.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Friday's match against Hamline is the fifth home match in the last seven contests for the Cardinals, who are a perfect 6-0 on their home courts at the Winona Tennis Center this season. … With their wins over Crown, St. Norbert, and Concordia (Wis.) last weekend, the Cardinals pushed their winning streak to eight straight. It's the longest winning streak since Saint Mary's put together a program-record nine match win streak in 2008. … Four of the Cardinals' eight wins during their current winning streak have been 9-0 decisions, while three others have been 6-3 triumphs — the other win was a 7-2 victory over St. Olaf. … Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) picked up her third 6-0, 6-0 singles win of the year against Crown last Friday — and dropped just three games in her last three matches. … Boeve — who has won a career-high eight straight singles matches — moved into a tie with Megan Vandenberg and Bailey Edwards for the top spot all-time in singles wins with 57. … Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.), who is also currently riding an eight-match singles win streak, has amassed 55 career singles wins, leaving her two back of Boeve, Vandenberg, and Edwards. … Sonday enters the weekend having played 74 consecutive matches at No. 1 singles. … Sonday and Boeve enter this weekend's matches leading the team with 11 dual-match singles wins, two more than Colleen Lois (Eau Claire, Wis.) and three in front of Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Madyson Schreiber (Edwardsville, Ill.). … 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 leads the team with 10 dual-match doubles wins, one more than Lois, and two up on Boeve. … Sonday and Lois — who went 15-4 as a doubles pair a year ago — have teamed up to go 9-5 as a doubles team this season, with all 14 matches coming at No. 1. … The Cardinals dropped just one game in their 9-0 win over Crown last Friday — Saint Mary's posted three 8-0 doubles wins, and five 6-0, 6-0 singles victories. … Fueled by their three wins last weekend, the Cardinals are now 55-20 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 Hamline Pipers:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Friday's match against Saint Mary's will be the 15th straight road match for the Pipers, who play their first home match at Holt Courts on Saturday against Macalester. … Last Saturday's 5-4 loss to Saint Benedict snapped the Pipers' three-match winning streak. … All three of Hamline's wins during their three-match run were decided by 6-3 decisions. In fact, HU's last four victories have been 6-3 wins. … Ali Kopiecki enters the weekend as the Pipers' singles wins leader with 11, three more than Megan Anderson. … Kopiecki is riding a seven-match winning streak and has gone 8-2 in her last 10 contests. … Nine of Kopiecki's 11 wins have come at No. 1 singles, where she is 9-2, while adding a 2-1 mark at No. 2. … As a team, Hamline is 39-40 in singles play, going 11-3 at No. 1, 8-6 at No. 2, 7-6 at No. 6, 6-7 at No. 4, 5-7 at No. 5, and 2-11 at No. 3. … Anderson and Kopiecki share the team lead with eight doubles victories — including a 4-1 mark as a doubles team. … Anderson's other four doubles wins have come when she is teamed with Natalie Pieterick, while Kopiecki owns two doubles wins when partnered with Courtney Fenech and two others when playing with Tess Rugg. … The Pipers own a 20-22 mark in doubles play — 8-6 at No. 1, 7-7 at No. 2, and 5-9 at No. 3.
 
Scouting The UW-River Falls Falcons:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• With their 5-4 win over Martin Luther on March 23 — the Falcons' first match of the spring season — UW-River Falls snapped a four-match losing streak. UW-RF closed out the fall portion of its schedule with 8-1 losses to UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse, and 9-0 setbacks against UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater. … Courtney French enters Saturday's match against Saint Mary's as the team's singles wins leader with five, while Natalie Nelson is second with four, and Ellie Kreibich and Karli Helland each have three. … French owns all five of the Falcons' wins at No. 1 singles, while Nelson has posted all four of UW-River Falls' victories at No. 2. … French and Nelson have teamed up to post a 5-1 record in doubles play — all at No. 1. …
Kreibich/Delaney Osmond are second on the team with three doubles victories as a duo.
 
Scouting The Saint Benedict Bennies:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• The Bennies enter the weekend as one of the hottest teams in the conference, having dropped just one of its first 10 matches. CSB opened the season with eight straight wins, before dropping an 8-1 decision to St. Catherine on March 23. The Bennies rebounded with a 5-4 win over Hamline last Saturday. … Lily Fredericks enters the weekend as the Bennies' wins leader, compiling an unblemished 10-0 record at No. 3 singles. … Mackenzie Schurhamer is second to Fredericks with eight singles wins in CSB's first 10 matches. Schurhamer is 2-0 at No. 4 singles and 6-2 at No. 5. … Saint Benedict has used the same player in the top three singles spots this year — Tessa Rahrick has played all 10 matches at No. 1, going 5-5, while Kayla McIver is 6-4 at No. 2, and Fredericks is 10-0 at No. 3. … As a team, the Bennies are 43-16 in singles play. … Erin Kolbow and Rahrick share the team lead in doubles wins with nine each — including an 8-1 record when paired together at No. 2. … Schurhamer, Fredericks, and Karsen Aune have all chipped in six doubles victories for the Bennies, who are 21-8 as a team in doubles play.