By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — It's a busy nonconference weekend for the Saint Mary's University men's tennis team, as the Cardinals play three matches in three days. Saint Mary's will face Lawrence at 7 p.m. at Green Bay Tennis Club in Green Bay, Wis., on Friday, before heading to the Four Seasons RC in Green Bay, Wis., for an 11 a.m. nonconference match against Ripon the following morning. The Cardinals will then return home to the Winona Tennis Center on Sunday for an 8 a.m. match against UW-Superior.
 
The Matchups:
Friday, February 7, 2020 * Green Bay TC * Green Bay, Wis. * 7 p.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-1 Overall) at Lawrence Vikings (2019: 12-9 Overall)
Saturday, February 8, 2020 * Four Seasons RC * Green Bay, Wis. * 11 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-1 Overall) at Ripon Red Hawks (2019: 2-10 Overall)
Sunday, February 9, 2020 * Winona Tennis Center * Winona, Minn. * 8 a.m.
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (1-1 Overall) at UW-Superior Yellowjackets (2019: 7-11 Overall)
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's — January 31, 2020 * Lifetime Fitness * White Bear Lake, Minn.: After jumping out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches, Saint Mary's saw four of the six singles matches either have one set go to a tie-breaker or a third set — and it was the Cardinals who came away with the marathon win, beating the Eagles 6-3 | Recap
• Lawrence — Friday's nonconference match against Saint Mary's is the 2020 season-opener for the Vikings.
• Ripon — Saturday's contest against Saint Mary's is the 2020 season-opener for the Red Hawks.
• UW-Superior — Sunday's matchup against Saint Mary's is the 2020 season-opener for the Yellowjackets.
 
Saint Mary's vs. Lawrence  — Their Last Meeting:
• March 18, 2018 * Fox Cities RC * Appleton, Wis.: Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the three doubles matches and added wins in four of the six singles matches to post a 6-3 nonconference win over Lawrence | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Ripon  — Their Last Meeting:
• February 25, 2012 * Oshkosh YMCA * Oshkosh, Wis.: Saint Mary's, coming off a hard-fought 7-2 win over Concordia (Wis.) the previous evening, cruised to a 9-0 nonconference victory over Ripon to complete a perfect 2-0 weekend | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-Superior  — Their Last Meeting:
• April 10, 2019 * UW-Superior Fieldhouse * Superior, Wis.: Saint Mary's closed out the road portion of its schedule in grand fashion, as the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead and hung on to beat UW-Superior 5-4 | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action on their home courts at the Winona Tennis Center for a pair of matches next Saturday. Saint Mary's will face St. Thomas in a 12:30 p.m. MIAC matchup at 12:30 p.m., followed by a 5 p.m. showdown against the University of Dubuque.
• Lawrence: The Vikings are back in action on Thursday, traveling to Edgewood, Wis., for a 1 p.m. nonconference match against Edgewood.
• Ripon: The Red Hawks are now off until Feb. 22, when they head to the Western Racquet Club in Green Bay, Wis., for a 2 p.m. match against Loras.
• UW-Superior: Following Sunday's matches against Saint Mary's and St. Thomas, the Yellowjackets return to the courts next Sunday, returning home to the Lydia Thering Fieldhouse in Superior, Wis., for a 10 a.m. matchup against Concordia.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals: 
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2020 Statistics
• The Cardinals' matches against Lawrence and Ripon are the second and third straight road matches for the Cardinals, who picked up five of their seven wins a year ago on their home courts at the Winona Tennis Center. … Saint Mary's saw four of its six singles matches against Northwestern last Friday either have one set go to a tie-breaker or a third set. … Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.), Trevor Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.), and Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) all picked up their second singles win of the season against Northwestern last Friday. … Janssen recorded his first collegiate singles win with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 5 singles against Martin Luther on Jan. 24. … Sobczak, Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.), Trevor Smiley, Gabe Graves (Littleton, Colo.), and Janssen have all played all three singles matches at Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. … Jared Hippman (Bollingbrook, Ill.), Philip Kostecka (Pequot Lakes, Minn.), and Nolan Smiley (Minnetonka, Minn.) have all played a match at No. 6 singles. … Sobczak, Nolan Smiley, Janssen, and Graves all own two dual-match doubles wins. … The Cardinals are 10-8 in singles play this season, while going 5-4 in doubles. … 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 improved to 62-23 in nonconference matches since 2012 with last Friday's 6-3 win over Northwestern. … 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 Lawrence Vikings:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2019 Final Statistics
• The Vikings enter Friday's season-opening against Saint Mary's on the heels of a 12-9 season a year ago — including a 6-2 record in Midwest Conference play. … Lawrence picked up nine of its 12 wins a year ago on the road — the Vikings finished 3-4 at home, while going 9-5 on the road. … Cade Francour closed out 2019 with a team-leading 14 dual-match singles wins, while Connor Maloney and Matt Chan each chipped in 10. … Maloney played all 21 dual matches at No. 1 singles, finishing 10-11. … Francour went 10-4 at No. 3 singles a year ago, while also adding a 4-2 mark at No. 2. … As a team, Lawrence went 62-59 in singles play — including 13-7 at No. 2 singles, while going 11-9 at No. 2 and No. 6, 10-10 at No. 5, and 10-11 at No. 1. … Francour and Maloney teamed up for an 11-10 record at No. 1 doubles last season, while Andrea Arivella/Aidan Delgado chipped in an 8-2 record — 7-2 at No. 3 and 1-0 at No. 2. … The Vikings finished 31-32 in doubles play a year ago — 11-10 at No. 1, 8-13 at No. 2, and 12-9 at No. 3.
 
Scouting The Ripon Red Hawks:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2019 Final Statistics
• Ripon kicks off 2020 after going 2-10 overall last season, including a 1-7 showing Midwest Conference. … The Red Hawks head into Saturday's nonconference showdown with Saint Mary's having lost its last four contests of 2019. … Drew Jorgenson and Junmo Kwon each recorded a team-leading four dual-match singles wins a year ago, one more than Preston Wurtz and two in front of Daniel Garcia. … Jorgenson picked up all four of his singles wins at No. 1. … Kwon played at least one match at five of the possible single singles positions. The only one Kowon did not play at was No. 1. … As a team, Ripon finished 15-57 in singles play — 4-8 at No. 1, 3-9 at Nos. 3, 5, and 6, and 1-11 at No. 2 and No. 4. … Garcia/Wurtz and Jorgenson/Marcus Austin each teamed to post two of Ripon's five doubles wins in 2019, while Kwon/Adrian Granados collected the other win. … Ripon finished 2-10 at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, while going 1-11 at No. 2.
 
Scouting The UW-Superior Yellowjackets:
2020 Roster | 2020 Schedule | 2019 Final Statistics
• UW-Superior heads into its Sunday season-opener against Saint Mary's coming off a 7-11 season a year ago, including posting a 6-2 mark in UMAC action. … The Yellowjackets reached the UMAC Tournament semifinals for the second year in a row, falling to Northwestern 7-2. … UW-Superior, with nine returners back from a year ago, was picked to finish third in the UAC Preseason Coaches Poll. … Carter LaMont closed out 2019 as the team-leader with eight singles wins, one more than Petar Bulatovic and two in front of Josiah Borst and Harry Simpson. … Borst played all but one match at No. 1 singles last season, going 6-11. … UW-Superior used six different players at both No. 5 and No. 6 singles a year ago. … As a team, the Yellowjackets compiled a 49-56 record in singles play. The Yellowjackets were 7-11 at No. 1, 5-13 at No. 2, 7-10 at No. 3, 12-5 at No. 4, 8-9 at No. 5, and 10-7 at No. 6. … Brady Anderson/Gavin Mangan joined forces for a team-leading four doubles wins, one more than Borst/Will Sherman. … The Yellowjackets, who went 21-32 in doubles play last season, used 17 different doubles combinations in 2019, with 11 of those doubles teams earning at least one win.