MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State tennis team will continue Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this weekend traveling to St. Cloud, Minn. to play three conference duals. The Mustangs open the weekend against St. Cloud State (2-3, 1-0 NSIC) at 10 a.m. on Saturday. SMSU will then square-off against Bemidji State (0-2, 0-0 NSIC) at 1:30 p.m. On Sunday, SMSU will dual MSU Moorhead (1-2, 1-1 NSIC) at 10:30 a.m.

Huskies at a glance: St. Cloud State enters the weekend 2-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play. The Huskies started off the season 2-0 with wins over MSU Moorhead (9-0) and Bethel College (6-3). Since then, SCSU has dropped three straight matches. The Huskies were swept by Carleton College and the University of North Dakota before dropping a 7-2 decision to St. Thomas. Samantha Boushek (No. 4 singles), Cassandra Brown (No. 1 singles) and Kayla Buckley (No. 5 singles) all enter the weekend 2-3 on the season.

Series notes: SMSU and St. Cloud State first met during the 1979 tennis season. This weekend's dual match will be the 31st meeting between the two schools. The Huskies currently lead the all-time series 25-5. SCSU has won the last 15 consecutive meetings between the two teams. The Huskies defeated SMSU 7-2 on Mar. 21 on their home court.

Beavers at a glance: Bemidji State opened the season with two losses against St. Marys (Minn.) and St. Scholastica. Meg Hafdahl and Katherine Wolak and Kelli Christiansen are the only Beavers to pick up wins this season. Wolak and Hafdahl are both 2-0 on the season and Christiansen is 1-1.

Series notes: Southwest Minnesota State owns a 21-game lead in the all-time series with Bemidji State. SMSU is 25-4 since the 1980 season against Bemidji State. The Mustangs have won five straight duals against the Beavers. The Mustangs defeated Bemidji State 7-2 on Apr. 2 last season in Bemidji.

Dragons at a glance: MSU Moorhead opened the season in NSIC play falling 9-0 to St. Cloud State on Feb. 4. The Dragons rebounded from that loss and defeated U-Mary 9-0 in Bismarck. MSUM then lost 9-0 in a dual match with St. Benedict. The Dragons enter the weekend 1-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Kayla Huether is 1-1 on the season at No. 1 singles and Kathryn Neubauer is 1-2 at No. 2 singles.

Series notes: The Mustangs hold a nine-game lead in the series against MSU Moorhead. SMSU is 19-10 all-time against the Dragons. The two teams met for the first time in 1980. The Dragons won a closely contended match 5-4 last season over the Mustangs in St. Cloud, Minn.

Last time out: Southwest Minnesota State won two out of six singles matches and one out of three doubles matches this afternoon falling 5-4 to Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. Cailey Grupe and Trisha Baldwin both won their singles matches and paired up for a doubles win.

Grupe earned a 6-0, 6-3 win over Lynn Leonard and Baldwin defeated Amanda Przymus 6-3, 6-1 giving SMSU an early lead in singles. Angie Wiegmann pulled out a victory No. 3 singles against Cassie Hein winning the first set 6-3, before losing the second set 6-7. Wiegmann then earned a 10-5 victory in the super tiebreaker to earn the match victory.

Grupe and Baldwin paired up for SMSU's only win in doubles competition. The duo picked up an 8-3 win over Amanda Przumus and Mary Horton.

The Southwest Minnesota State women's tennis team earned its first victory of the season last Saturday night defeating the University of Mary 9-0 in an NSIC match in Sioux Falls, S.D.

SMSU's top five singles players all won in straight sets, while Mattison Peters won at No. 6 singles earning a 10-7 victory in the third set.

Cailey Grupe and Trisha Baldwin earned an 8-2 victory in No. 1 doubles, while Angie Wiegmann and Kasey Uran picked up an 8-5 victory in No. 2 doubles. Kelsey Bourne and Mattison Peters completed the sweep in doubles play with an 8-3 victory in No. 3 doubles.

SMSU ranked in Central Region: SMSU is ranked 10th in the ITA Central Region rankings as of Nov. 9, 2010. The Mustangs are joined by NSIC foes Augustana who is ranked first, Upper Iowa (third), Winona State (fifth) and Minnesota State who is ranked seventh.

Fall competition: Southwest Minnesota State competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region Tournament earlier this season in Denver, Colo. Trisha Baldwin and Cailey Grupe advanced to the second round of doubles action in the tournament. The pair defeated Augustana's Liz Lewis and Emily Johnson, 8-2, in the first round before falling to Upper Iowa's Courtney Romer and Anastasia Dabiza, 8-5, in the second.

Senior leadership: Cailey Grupe and Trisha Baldwin returns as the top doubles tandem for SMSU. Grupe finished the 2010 season with a singles record of 13-9 and a doubles record of 15-7. Baldwin was 16-5 in singles matches while contributing to the 15-7 record with Grupe.

The coach: Charlie Kost enters his first season as head coach of the women's tennis program at Southwest Minnesota State. Kost takes over the reigns from George Seldat, who retired after 16 seasons as head coach. Kost comes to SMSU after having spent eight seasons (2002-10) as the head girls' tennis coach at Marshall High School.

---

---

---