By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team kicks off the 2020 season with a nonconference showdown against Martin Luther on Friday. The Cardinals and Knights will square off at 5:30 p.m. at the Winona Tennis Center.
 
The Matchups:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2019: 14-7 Overall) vs. Martin Luther Knights (2019: 5-12 Overall)
 
Last Action:
• This weekend's match is the season-opener for both Saint Mary's and Martin Luther.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Martin Luther  — Their Last Meeting:
• January 25, 2019 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals cruised to a 9-0 nonconference win over Martin Luther— giving Saint Mary's its fourth straight 9-0 season-opening victory, and its 12th consecutive win over the Knights
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals, who play an exhibition match against Iowa Lakes CC on Saturday, return to action next Friday, heading to Lifetime Fitness in White Bear Lake, Minn., for a 6:30 p.m. nonconference matchup against Northwestern.
• Martin Luther: The Knights are now off until Feb. 15, when they travel to the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., for a nonconference match against St. Catherine.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2019 Final Statistics
• This and That: Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.) was named the recipient of the Chris Evert Award a year ago, while Jeff Halberg was named MIAC Co-Coach of the Year, after guiding the Cardinals to a fifth-place finish and MIAC post-season berth. … Sonday was also named First-Team All-MIAC in both singles and doubles for the second straight year, while doubles partner Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) joined her on the doubles All-MIAC First-Team and Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.) was an honorable-mention All-MIAC selection. … Saint Mary's made its second MIAC Tournament appearance in the last three years, falling to St. Thomas 5-0 in the quarterfinals. It was the second straight MIAC post-season in which the Cardinals fell to the Tommies in the opening round. … The Cardinals closed out the season having won 12 of their last 14 matches — including a program-record 11-match winning streak, which was halted with an 8-1 loss to Carleton on April 12. … With their regular season-ending 6-3 win over Luther, the Cardinals picked up their 14th win of the season — one shy of the program-record 15 set during the 2008 season. … Five of the Cardinals' 11 wins during their program-record 11-match winning streak were 9-0 decisions, while five others were 6-3 triumphs — the other win was a 7-2 victory over St. Olaf. … Boeve became the program's all-time singles wins leader with a straight-set, 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 4 singles against Hamline on April 5. Boeve, who closed out her senior campaign winning 12 of her last 13 singles matches last season, left Saint Mary's with 61 career singles victories. … Boeve led the team with 15 dual-match singles wins, one more than Sonday, while Lois and Madyson Schreiber (Edwardsville, Ill.) were tied for third with 12. … Sonday, who had her season-high eight-match winning streak snapped against Hamline on April 5, ended her collegiate career sitting second to Boeve in all-time career singles victories with 58. … Sonday closed out her collegiate career playing 79 consecutive matches at No. 1 singles. … Schreiber — who picked up regular season-ending wins over both Carleton and Luther on April 12-13 — closed out her freshman campaign winning each of her last eight singles matches. … Saint Mary's had a pair of lengthy singles winnings streaks snapped against Carleton on April 12. Boeve dropped a straight-set match at No. 4, ending her career-high 11-match win streak, while Lois had her career-best nine-match run stopped with a straight-set loss at No. 2. … 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 last season, joining Kailee Johnson (Rochester, Minn.) and Schreiber, who notched their first singles wins against Martin Luther on Jan. 25. … Sonday led the team with 12 dual-match doubles wins, one more than Lois and Boeve. … Sonday and Lois — who went 15-4 as a doubles pair in 2018 — teamed up to go 11-8 as a doubles team last season, with all 18 matches coming at No. 1. … The Cardinals closed out the regular season with a near-perfect 8-1 record on their home courts at the Winona Tennis Center — the lone loss, an 8-1 setback to Carleton in the final regular-season MIAC match of the year on April 12. … Saint Mary's closed out the regular-season with a 6-3, nonconference win over Luther — the first win over the Norse in program history. … With their 9-0 win over UW-River Falls on April 6, the Cardinals improved to 17-0 all-time vs. the Falcons. … The Cardinals dropped just one game in their 9-0 win over Crown on March 29 — Saint Mary's posted three 8-0 doubles wins, and five 6-0, 6-0 singles victories. … With their 8-2 showing in 2019, the Cardinals are now 57-20 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.
 
Scouting The Martin Luther Knights:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2019 Final Statistics
• The Knights enter the 2020 season on the heels of a 5-12 campaign a year ago — including a 2-5 mark in UMAC play. … Anna Hemmelman returns for her senior year, after collecting her third straight First-Team All-UMAC honor a year ago. … After winning the 2018 UMAC Player of the Year award, Hemmelman finished 13-4 at No. 1 singles in 2019 — including a 6-1 record in UMAC play. … In the last two seasons, Hemmelman is a stellar 13-1 in UMAC singles action, with her only defeat coming against Northwestern's Nikki Paskewitz, winner of the 2019 UMAC Player of the Year award. … Tatum Bollmeier finished the year second to Hemmelman with nine singles wins, followed by Morgan Shevey with seven. … Hemmelman closed out the year winning her last five singles matches, while Bollmeier and Shevey are each riding three-match singles winning streaks. … As a team, MLC finished 37-60 in singles play — including 13-4 at No. 1, 9-7 at No. 6 and 7-10 at No. 3. … Hemmelman and Shevey teamed to win eight doubles matches a year ago, while Ella Loersch and Birner added six doubles victories. The foursome accounted for 14 of the Knights' 18 doubles wins.