• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head into their conference showdown against St. Olaf on Saturday sitting at 5-9 overall, including 0-2 in their first two MIAC contests.
• LAST TIME OUT: Saint Mary’s finished 1-3 in its four-match spring trip to Orlando, Fla., last week. SMU beat Houghton 7-2, while falling to Calvin (6-3), Piedmont (6-3), and Mount Vernon Nazarene (5-4).
• SUCCESS ON THE ROAD: Four of the Cardinals’ five wins have come on the road this season. Saint Mary’s — which has played seven of its first 10 matches on their home courts — is 1-6 at home, while boasting a perfect 4-3 mark away from the Winona Tennis Center.
• SINGLED OUT: E.J. Hietala (Duluth, Minn.) heads into Saturday’s contest against St. Olaf owning a team-leading nine dual-match singles wins. The junior also collected three singles matches at the ITA/Midwest Open last fall to give him a team-best 12 overall singles victories. … Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) and Tucker Stene (Fridley, Minn.) are second to Hietala with seven dual-match singles wins. … Stene is the Cardinals’ hottest player right now, having won each of his last four singles matches. … Janssen and Hietala both put together season-high five-match singles wins earlier this year.
• CAREER FIRSTS: Matt Besek (Winona, Minn.) collected his first collegiate singles victory with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6 against Lawrence on Feb. 5. Besek is the third Cardinal to record collegiate win No. 1, joining Brendon Raabolle (Andover, Minn.) — who picked up his first collegiate singles wins at the ITA Regional/Midwest Open on Oct. 1.
• GOING THE DISTANCE: Five of the six singles matches in the Cardinals’ 7-2 win Houghton on March 1 — and 12 of 24 singles matches in their four contests in Florida — went to a third set. SMU has now played 33 three-set matches this season — including four during last fall’s ITA/Midwest Open — and own an 18-15 mark in five-setters.
• PERFECT RUN: Janssen and Hietala were each perfect in SMU’s three wins over Ripon, Lawrence, and St. Norbert on Feb. 4-5, winning all three of their singles and doubles matches.
• DOUBLING UP: The doubles team of Janssen/Brandon Kurilla (Hastings, Minn.) leads the Cardinals with 10 doubles wins — all at No. 1 — while Hietala/Peter Quinn (Lake Elmo, Minn.) are second with four doubles wins at No. 2. Hietala has also teamed with Raabolle to post three wins in seven matches together. … Besek has had a hand in four dual-match doubles wins, going 2-4 with Raabolle and 2-5 with Caden Rodning (Mason City, Iowa). … SMU has used one doubles combination at No. 1 and two at No. 2, while using three different combinations at No. 3.
• WEEKLY HONOR: Janssen collected his first collegiate MIAC Athlete of the Week honor on Feb. 7, after his perfect 6-0 showing in SMU’s wins over Ripon, Lawrence, and St. Norbert on Feb. 4-5.
• TOTAL DOMINATION: With their 7-2 win over Martin Luther on Jan. 29, the Cardinals pushed their winning streak to 19 straight against the Knights. SMU has never lost to Martin Luther in program history.
• PROGRAM FIRSTS: The Cardinals’ matches against Calvin, Piedmont, Houghton, and Mount Vernon Nazarene during their spring trip were all the first meetings in program history.
• OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE: The Cardinals’ losses to UW-Superior and Loras last weekend snapped their five-game nonconference winning streak. SMU is now 6-6 in nonconference play this season and 72-32 vs. non-MIAC foes since 2012.
