SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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• 2022: 1-5 MIAC * 6-12 Overall

GUSTAVUS GUSTIES

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• 2022: 3-0 MIAC * 14-9 Overall

SMU v. GAC * LAST MEETING

April 17, 2021 * St. Peter, MN

L, 9-0 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

March 26, 2022 * Minneapolis, MN

Macalester * L, 9-0

March 27, 2022 * Winona, MN

Bethel * L, 8-1

GUSTAVUS * LAST ACTION:

March 24, 2022 * Spring Trip

Bowdoin * L, 5-4

Hope Int’l * W, 4-3

Westmont * W, 4-3

SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:

April 23, 2022 * Winona TC 

St. Scholastica * 1:00

GUSTAVUS * UP NEXT:

April 3, 2022 * West Bend, WI

U. of Chicago * 10:00

• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head into their conference matchup against Gustavus sitting at 6-12overall, including a 1-5 mark in their first four MIAC contests.

• LAST TIME OUT: The Cardinals could not match the depth of Macalester and Bethel in the teams’ conference matchups last weekend, falling to the Scots 9-0 on the road last Saturday, before dropping an 8-1 decision to the Royals the following afternoon at the Winona Tennis Center.

• SUCCESS ON THE ROAD: Five of the Cardinals’ six wins have come on the road this season. Saint Mary’s — which played seven of its first 10 matches on their home courts — is 1-7 at home, while boasting a 5-5 mark away from the Winona Tennis Center.

• SINGLED OUT: E.J. Hietala (Duluth, Minn.) heads into Saturday’s match against Gustavus owning a team-leading 10 dual-match singles wins. The junior also collected three singles matches at the ITA/Midwest Open last fall to give him a team-best 13 overall singles victories. Tucker Stene (Fridley, Minn.) is second to Hietala with nine dual-match singles wins. … Stene had his season- and career-high six-match winning streak snapped against Macalester last Saturday. The freshman is now 6-2 in his last eight singles matches. … Josh Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.) 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 fourth Cardinal to record collegiate win No. 1, joining Stene, Peter Quinn (Lake Elmo, Minn.), and Brendon Raabolle (Andover, Minn.). Stene notched SMU win No. 1 against Martin Luther on Jan. 29, while Quinn notched his against Ripon on Feb. 4 and Raabolle picked up his first collegiate singles win at the ITA Regional/Midwest Open on Oct. 1. 

• GOING THE DISTANCE: Four of the six singles matches in the Cardinals’ 8-1 loss to St. Olaf on March 12 went to a third set. SMU has now played 39 three-set matches this season and own an 19-20 mark in three-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 12 doubles wins — all at No. 1 — while Hietala/Quinn is 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 four at both No. 2 and 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 on Feb. 18-19 snapped their five-game nonconference winning streak. SMU is now 5-7 in nonconference play this season and 71-33 vs. non-MIAC foes since 2012. 

• FOR THE RECORD: The Gusties enter the weekend sitting at 14-9 overall, including an unblemished 3-0 record in conference play.

• LAST TIME OUT: Gustavus closed out its 10-match spring trip to California going 2-1 in its final matches on March 24 — all decided by one point. GAC lost to Bowdoin (5-4), before regrouping with 4-3 wins over Hope International and Westmont. 

• MIAC SWEEPING: The Gusties have pulled out the brooms in all three conference wins this season, sweeping St. Olaf, Bethel, and Concordia by identical 9-0 counts.

• SINGLED OUT: Rafael Costa leads the Gusties with eight singles wins, one more than Daniel Fouchier, Joel Hug, and two in front of Marco Siviero and Alex Budde. … Siviero has won all seven of his singles matches this season, while Luke Haddorff and Justin Shelin enter Saturday’s matchup against Saint Mary’s riding five-match winning streaks. … GAC has gotten at least one dual-match singles win from 20 different players. … As a team, Gustavus is 80-48 in dual matches.

• DOUBLING UP: Fouchier/Sourabh Terakanambi lead GAC with eight doubles victories, three more than Nick Aney and Alex Budde — who reached the semifinals of the NCAA National Tournament semifinals as a doubles pair a year ago. … Gustavus has used 21 different doubles combinations en route to its 40-26 showing in dual-match doubles play this season.

• A YEAR AGO: Gustavus went unbeaten in league play — going 9-0 to capture its 32nd straight MIAC regular-season title — and beat Carleton 5-1 in the MIAC Tournament title match last season, earning the Gusties their 33rd national tournament appearance in program history. … In the NCAA Tournament, GAC opened with a 5-4 win over Dennison, before falling to Case Western 5-0 in the Regional championship. It was the Gusties’ ninth straight regional championship appearance.