By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's tennis team returns home to the Winona Tennis Center for a busy weekend, hosting Macalester in a 6 p.m. MIAC match on Friday, before entertaining Loras in a 3:30 p.m. nonconference match Sunday afternoon.
 
The Matchups:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-2 MIAC, 5-3 Overall) vs. Macalester Scots (0-0 MIAC, 3-0 Overall), 6 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-3 Overall) vs. Loras Duhawks (1-2 Overall), 3:30 p.m.
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — February 15, 2020 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn.: The Cardinals split their two home matches last Saturday, falling to St. Thomas 7-2 in a conference matchup, before rebounding with a 9-0 sweep of the University of Dubuque | UST Recap * UD Recap
• Macalester — February 15, 2020 * Leonard Center * St. Paul, Minn.: The Scots pushed their season-opening winning streak to three, rolling to a convincing 9-0 nonconference win over Crown | Recap
• Loras — February 16, 2020 * Lakeside Tennis Courts * Galesburg, Ill.: The Duhawks put an end to their season-opening two-match losing streak with 6-3 road win over Knox | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Macalester  — A Year Ago:
• March 8, 2019 * Lifetime Fitness * White Bear Lake, Minn.: Macalester made Saint Mary's its seventh straight victim to open the season, dealing the Cardinals a 9-0 conference setback | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Loras  — Their Last Meeting:
• March 30, 2014 * Loras Tennis Courts * Dubuque, Iowa: The Cardinals made it look easy in their nonconference match against Loras, running their winning streak to three straight with a 9-0 sweep of the Duhawks | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are now off until March 13-14-15, when they play three matches in three days. Saint Mary's will host Gustavus in a 6 p.m. MIAC contest on March 13, before hitting the road for back-to-back matches at UM-Morris on Saturday and at Concordia on Sunday.
• Macalester: The Scots do not return to the courts until March 7, when they travel to eau Claire, Wis., for a nonconference match against UW-Eau Claire.
• Loras: After their three matches this weekend, the Duhawks return to action next Saturday, heading to Mount Vernon, Iowa for matches against Cornell (noon) and Milwaukee School of Engineering (3 p.m.).
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Statistics
• This weekend's matches against Macalester and Loras will be the third and fourth of five straight home matches for the Cardinals, who have played five of their first eight matches this season on their home courts. Saint Mary's is 3-2 at home this season, after picking up five of its seven wins a year ago at the Winona Tennis Center. … Saint Mary's enters the weekend's matches having won three of their last four. … The Cardinals' 9-0 win over the University of Dubuque last Saturday was their third 9-0 victory of the season. … Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) picked up singles wins in both of the Cardinals' matches last weekend, pushing his winning streak to a career-high six straight. … Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) had his four-match singles winning streak snapped with a 6-2, 6-2 setback against St. Thomas last Saturday. … Trevor Smiley heads into the weekend matches against Macalester and Loras owning a team-best seven singles wins, while Janssen is second with six and Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and Gabe Graves (Littleton, Colo.) are tied for third with five. … Sobczak, Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.), Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.), Graves, and Janssen have each played all eight singles matches at Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. … Nolan Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn. / 1-3), Philip Kostecka (Pequot Lakes, Minn. / 1-1), and Jared Hippman (Bollingbrook, Ill. / 1-0)  have seen action at No. 6 singles. … Janssen recorded his first collegiate singles win with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 5 singles against Martin Luther on Jan. 24. … Kurilla/Trevor Smiley have played all eight matches together at No. 1 doubles, going 3-5, while Graves/Sobczak have teamed to go 5-3 at No. 2 doubles, and Janssen/Nolan Smiley are 3-3 at No. 3. Hippman/Janssen own Saint Mary's other win at No. 3 doubles. … The Cardinals are 31-17 in singles play this season, while going 13-11 in doubles. … With their 9-0 showing against the University of Dubuque last Saturday, the Cardinals improved to 65-24 in nonconference matches since 2012. … Saint Mary's dropped just eight games in sweeping the singles matches against Dubuque last Saturday — including 6-0, 6-0 wins from Trevor Smiley, Gabe Graves, and Janssen. … With their season-opening win over Martin Luther, the Cardinals improved to 14-0 all-time against the Knights — including seven 9-0 wins in their last eight contests. …  The Cardinals' three doubles teams dropped just three games combined against Martin Luther last Friday. … Saint Mary's won five of the six singles matches against Martin Luther in straight sets, including a 6-0, 6-0 win over Sobczak at No. 1.
 
Scouting The Macalester Scots:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Statistics
• Macalester enters Friday's match against Saint Mary's riding a season-opening three-match winning streak. … The Scots — picked to finished third in the MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll — are coming off back-to-back 9-0 wins over Martin Luther and Crown, after opening the season with an 8-1 victory over St. Scholastica. … The Scot head into their conference showdown against Saint Mary's a perfect 18-0 in singles play. … Alexander Hamann, Michael Lockhart, Sawyer Michaelson, George Steinke, and Aidan Toner-Rodgers share the team lead with two singles wins, with Sam Hochberger, Jeffrey Jorgensen, Karsten Knutsen, Anton Korolev, Alessandro Mauceri, Matthew Sullivan, Sun Tun, and Ben White each chipped in one singles victory. … The doubles teams of Hamann/Steinke and Toner-Rodgers/Lockhart share the team lead with two wins, while five other doubles combinations are 4-1.
 
Scouting The Loras Duhawks:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Statistics
• Sunday's nonconference match against Saint Mary's is the fifth of seven straight road matches to open the season for the Duhawks, who play 12 of their first 13 matches of 2020 on the road. … With their 6-3 win over Knox on Feb. 16, the Duhawks snapped their season-opening two-match losing streak. … Two of Loras' three matches this season have been decided by 6-3 decisions — the Duhawks have sandwiched a 6-3 loss to Illinois Wesleyan and 6-3 win over Knox around an 8-1 setback against Roosevelt University. … Sean Gelski and Elan Coad lead the way for the Duhawks, boasting two singles wins each, with Brett Batkoff, Tommy Linkenheld, Michael Runde, and Joe Schneider accounting for the other four Loras singles victories. … As a team, Loras is 3-0 at No. 6 singles, while going 2-1 at No. 5. The Duhawks are 1-2 at Nos. 2, 3-, and 4, and are still searching for their first win at No. 1 (0-3). … Gelski/Lknkenheld and Batkoff/Sam Brickley own Loras' two doubles victories this season — Gelski/Linkenheld at No. 2 and Batkoff/Brickley at No. 3.