ST. PAUL, MINN. – The regular season is nearing its end for the St. Catherine University tennis team, and that means things are starting to heat up on the tennis court. With only five matches left before the end of the regular season, every match is important for the Wildcats. Currently, St. Kate's is ranked No. 6 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings behind the University of St. Thomas, Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Olaf College, and the College of Saint Benedict.  

The Wildcats have a big weekend ahead of them as they play two schools from two different divisions. On Friday, St. Kate's will host the St. Cloud State University Huskies at 4:30 p.m. at the campus courts. Then, on Saturday, they will travel to Arden Hills, Minnesota, for an early morning match against MIAC foe Bethel University.

Here are the five numbers to know before the matches this weekend:

1 – 1 - The Wildcats split their matches last weekend against Hamline University and Gustavus Adolphus College. In their first match of the weekend against the Pipers, four of six St. Kate's players won both at the singles and doubles level and every player won at least one match in the 7-2 victory.

1 – Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) was the only Wildcat to win in the team's match against Gustavus last Saturday. Knoll came back after losing the first set to beat the Gusties No. 2 singles player Lizzy Stanczyk 7-6 (8-6) in set two and 10-1 in the deciding tiebreaker to win the match overall.

3 – In addition to St. Kate's, St. Cloud has played two other teams from the MIAC this season. The Huskies opened their season against Carleton in February, losing by a score of 0-9. They also played St. Thomas earlier this season and lost that match 1-8.

8 – In 2015, the Wildcats beat MIAC foe Bethel 8-1 in their final home match of the regular season. Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn. / Brainerd), Knoll, and Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S. D. / Mitchell) beat their opponents in straight sets at the singles level after St. Kate's swept Bethel in doubles play.

5 – It has been five years since the Wildcats lost to the Royal in a regular season dual match. In 2011, St. Kate's lost the Bethel 8-1 on their home court. Since then, the Wildcats have gone 5-0 and have only dropped six individual matches against the Royals.