By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's tennis team returns home to the Winona Tennis Center for a pair weekend matches, 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, 4-2 Overall) vs. Macalester Scots (0-0 MIAC, 2-0 Overall), 6 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-2 Overall) vs. Loras Duhawks (10-2 Overall), 3:30 p.m.
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — February 14-15-16, 2020 * Winona Tennis Center/Owatonna Tennis Center * Winona, Minn./Owatonna, Minn.: The Cardinals dropped their first two conference games of the season, sandwiching a 5-4 loss to St. Thomas and a 9-0 setback to nationally ranked Gustavus around a 7-2 nonconference win over Northwestern (Iowa) | UST Recap * NWC Recap * GAC Recap
• Macalester — February 15, 2020 * Leonard Center * St. Paul, Minn.: The Scots rolled to their second straight win to open the season, sweeping past Crown 9-0 in a nonconference match | Recap
• Loras — February 14, 2020 * Chicago, Ill.: The Duhawks suffered their second loss of the season — and first of 2020 — falling to Roosevelt University 6-3 | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Macalester  — A Year Ago:
• February 8, 2020 * Lifetime Fitness * White Bear Lake, Minn.: Coming off a hard-fought, 6-3 win over Hanover to close out its spring trip last week, the Cardinals carried that momentum into their conference showdown with Macalester – and came away with a second straight 6-3 win | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Loras  — Their Last Meeting:
• March 8, 2008 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn.: In their first matchup against the Duhawks in program history, the Cardinals had little trouble picking up the nonconference win, rolling to a 9-0 victory | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are now off until March 14-15, when they take on St. Catherine and Concordia in a pair of road conference matches. Saint Mary's will face St. Kate's at 11 a.m. on March 14 at the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn., before heading to Courts Plus in Fargo, N.D., for a 9 a.m. matchup against Concordia.
• Macalester: The Scots are back in action — and back in conference play — next Friday, squaring off against St. Thomas in a 5:30 p.m. matchup at the U of M Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Loras: The Duhawks do not return to the courts until March 14, when they travel to Racine, Wis., for nonconference matches against Wisconsin Lutheran and Alverno.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Statistics
• This weekend's matches against Macalester and Loras are the second and third of three straight home matches for the Cardinals, who have played four of their first six contests on their home courts at the Winona Tennis Center. … Saint Mary's heartbreaking 5-4 loss to St. Thomas on Feb. 14 snapped its season-opening three-match winning streak. … Four of the Cardinals' six singles matches against St. Thomas on Feb. 14 went into a third-set in their 5-4 heartbreaking loss to the Tommies. … Zoie Becker (St. James, Minn.) extended her season-opening, dual-match singles winning streak to five with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles against St. Thomas on Feb. 14 and a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Northwestern (Iowa) on Feb. 15. The freshman's perfect run came to halt, however, with a loss to Gustavus the following day. … Becker leads the Cardinals with five singles wins, one more than Cassandra Barr (Eau Claire, Wis.) and Maggie Frye (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and two in front of Colleen Lois (Green Bay, Wis.) and Kennedy Morgan (Green Bay, Wis.). … After recording a pair of wins at the Gustavus Fall Invitational last September, Frye and Becker each picked up their first collegiate dual-match singles wins against Martin Luther on Jan. 25. … Lois (No. 1) and Barr (No. 2) are the only Cardinals to have played all six matches at the same position. … As a team, Saint Mary's is 22-14 in singles play — 3-3 at No. 1 and No. 4, and 4-2 at Nos. 2, 3, 5, and 6. … Barr/Lois and Becker/Frye had their season-opening five-match doubles winning streak snapped with losses to Gustavus on Feb. 15. … Combined with their three tournament wins at the Gustavus Fall Invitational last fall, Becker/Frye have won eight of the 10 doubles matches they have been paired up in. … Barr/Lois have played all six matches at No. 1 doubles — they are the only Cardinal combination to play all six matches at the same position. … With their season-opening win over Martin Luther on Jan. 25, the Cardinals have now opened the season with a 9-0 victory in five straight seasons. … Saint Mary's dropped just nine games in their five singles wins against UW-Superior on Feb. 8, and lost only nine games in their five singles wins against Northwestern (Iowa) on Feb. 15. … With their season-opening 9-0 win over Martin Luther on Jan. 25, the Cardinals are now 13-0 in their 13 meetings with Martin Luther. … With their 7-2 win over Northwestern (Iowa) on Feb. 15, the Cardinals improved to 61-20 against nonconference opponents since 2012. … Saint Mary's made its second MIAC Tournament appearance in the last three years, falling to St. Thomas 5-0 in the quarterfinals. …
 
Scouting The Macalester Scots:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Statistics
• The Scots — picked to finish eighth in the MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll — enter Friday's conference matchup against Saint Mary's riding a season-opening two-match winning streak. … Emma Baker is the only Scot to own singles victories in both matches this season, while Talla Bank, Camilla Benetti, Claire Buehler, Hannah Lundblad, Avery Munster, Kari Myhran, Amalin Sorajja, and Natall Sorajja are all 1-0. Laurel Hickey has the Scots' other win, as well as their lone singles loss. … Macalester is a perfect 6-0 in doubles action — with six different doubles pairs all going 1-0.
 
Scouting The Loras Duhawks:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule| 2020 Statistics
• Sunday's match against Saint Mary's is the second of six straight road matches for the Duhawks, who do not play a home match until hosting Maranatha Baptist on April 19. … After going 9-1 during the fall portion of its schedule, the Duhawks suffered their first loss in 2020 — and had their three-match winning streak snapped — with their 6-3 loss at Roosevelt on Feb. 14. … Loras opened the season with seven consecutive victories, a run that was halted with a 7-2 setback at the hands of Luther on Sept. 24. … Noely Baumann and Isabel Schwabe enter Sunday's match against Saint Mary's leading the team with 10 singles wins each, two more than Sara Backus and three in front of Meghann Long. … As a team, the Duhawks are 47-18 in singles play — 11-0 at Nos. 5 and 6, 8-3 at No. 4, 7-4 at No. 2, 6-5 at No. 3, and 5-6 at No. 1. … Long/Maddie Smith have combined for a team-leading seven doubles wins, followed by Sara Backus/Lauren Dilulio with six and Baumann/Audrey Hinz with five. … Loras is 24-9 as a team in doubles play —10-1 at No. 3, 8-3 at No. 2, and 6-5 at No. 1. … The Duhawks have used 11 different doubles combinations.