ST. PAUL, MINN. – Spring seems to have finally sprung in Minnesota just in time for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) tennis playoffs. As predicated, there will be a familiar face, so to speak, in the tournament, as the St. Catherine University tennis team qualified for the postseason for the eighth-consecutive season thanks to its dominating 9-0 defeat of the College of Saint Benedict last weekend.
 
The Wildcats finished the regular season with an overall record of 11-6 with a record of 4-6 in conference play to earn the No. 6 seed in the MIAC playoffs. St. Kate's will face No. 3 seed St. Thomas in the Quarterfinal Round on Tuesday, May 1 at 4 p.m. at Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The winner will face No. 2 seed Carleton College in the Semifinals on Thursday.
 
Here are five facts to know before Tuesday's playoff action:
 
4 – St. Kate's is one of just four MIAC teams to qualify for the postseason tournament the last eight seasons. In addition to the Wildcats, the other three teams to qualify for eight straight seasons are top-seeded Gustavus Adolphus College, No. 2 Carleton and No. 3 St. Thomas. The tennis team also has the longest ongoing playoff streak of all teams at St. Kate's.
 
10-4 – Leah Obert (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) was the lone Wildcat to earn a point in St. Kate's 8-1 loss to St. Thomas back in February. At the No. 5 singles spot, Obert dropped the first set 6-1 but rallied to win the second set 6-4 to force the third-set tiebreaker. She dominated the final set 10-4 to win the match.    
 
4/17 – Alisha Wiedmeier (Rapid City, S.D. / Stevens) earned MIAC Athlete-of-the-Week honors for the second time in her career earlier this season on April 17. The sophomore earned the honor after winning both her doubles and singles matches in the team's big 7-2 victory over Saint Mary's University. In doubles, Wiedmeier teamed with partner Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) to defeat the Cardinals top team by a score of 8-6. Wiedmeier then earned a huge come-from-behind win at the No. 2 singles spot. After dropping the first set 6-3, she forced the tiebreaker by winning set two 7-5 and won the match with a 10-3 win in the third set tiebreaker.
 
11 – Three Wildcats have won at least 11 singles matches this season. Sporer won 11 matches mainly as the team's No. 3 player, while Obert was victorious in 12 matches in singles play, splitting her wins between the No. 4 and 5 singles spots. Finally, sophomore Maddy Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) led the team with 13 match wins in singles play, mainly as the team's No. 5 or 6 singles player. Knoll also closed the season winning two of her three singles matches, including a huge upset over the Gusties No. 6 singles player in the regular season finale on Saturday.
 
8-3 – St. Kate's No. 2 doubles team of Bri Dorr (Princeton, Minn. / Princeton) and Ella Graham (Madison, S.D. / Madison) posted a dual match record of 8-3 this season. They also teamed up for a perfect 1-0 record at the No. 1 doubles spot when they defeated Elmhurst's top pair 8-4. Overall, both players ended 2018 doubles play with matching 12-5 records.