ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University tennis team started 2016 with an impressive 9-0 win over North Central last weekend. Their season continues Saturday, as they take on the University of Northwestern (Minn.) at 3:30 p.m. at the Unniversity of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Courts. Last season, the match between these two teams came down to the very wire.St. Kate's came out on top 5-4 thanks to a tiebreak win in the final singles match of the day. 

With that in mind, here are some interesting facts about the St. Kate's tennis team before they take on Northwestern: 

96 - Number of sets St. Kate's won in their opening weekend against North Central. The team only dropped one set between both doubles and singles play and did not lose a match. In tennis, a player or doubles team must win six sets in order to win a match. That means, in total, the Wildcats record last weekend was 96-1 in sets played.

3 – Number of All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) honorees returning for the Wildcats this season. Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn. / Brainerd), Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D. / Mitchell) and Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) all earned All-MIAC honors last year and are key returners to the Wildcats team this season. All three were extremely successful in 2015, in both conference and nonconference play, and started the season with victories against North Central.

4 – Number of underclassman on the St.Kate's roster this season. Sophomores Jessica Duda (St. Michael, Minn. / St. Michael-Albertville) and Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) and first years Leah Obert (Inver grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) and Ruth Rike (Pine City, Minn. / Pine) all have a chance to make contributions for the Wildcats this season.

5 – St. Kate's ranking in the MIAC preseason poll, which was released last week. The Wildcats are expected to finish fifth in the conference, which is where they finished last season before losing to St. Olaf in the first round of the MIAC playoffs. If St. Kate's were to finish fifth, it would be the sixth consecutive playoff birth for the team.

5 – Number of matches St. Kate's won to beat Northwestern in 2015. Last year, the Wildcats opened their season against the Eagles, and it was one of the most thrilling matches of the year. St. Kate's won the doubles portion of the dual two sets to one, but it came down to the final singles match to determine the winner. Then No. 4 singles player Lorenzen beat her opponent 7-5 in the first set before dropping the second 5-7. Lorenzen then won the ensuing tiebreaker 10-8, giving the Wildcats their first win of the season.