The fourth seeded University of Minnesota Duluth will face fifth seeded University of Mary in the opening round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament on Saturday (April 13) at 4:30 p.m. at the Lifetime Fitness in Minnetonka, Minn. The Bulldogs and the Marauders will play in the final quarterfinal match of the day with the winner continuing on to the semifinals Sunday to play either Augustana University or Southwest Minnesota State University.

UMD (11-4) is making its third straight appearance in the conference tournament after wrapping up the regular season last Saturday on a strong note by defeating St. Cloud State University and Minnesota State University-Mankato.
 
The Bulldogs, who posted the program's most victories in 12 years, tied Winona State University for third in the final NSIC standings at 8-3. That represents the highest NSIC finish for a UMD club in 15 years and the highest league finish since 2007 when they were members of the now-defunct North Central Conference. Winona State was awarded the No. 3 seed for the eight-team NSIC Tournament based on a tiebreaker.

UMD has won the last three meetings against Mary. The Bulldogs defeated the Marauders 4-3 in the lone regular season encounter back on March 30. In that showdown, UMD got doubles victories from junior Megan Anderson and junior Elsa Erickson (No.1) and from sophomore Natalie Cahill and freshman Sophie Lynch (No. 2). Cahill, freshman Ally Tiedemann and sophomore Arielle Emerson racked up singles wins to locked up the matchup.

Cahill (12-2), Thiner (10-1) and Tiedemann (10-2) have all eclipsed the double-digit mark for single wins this season while Lynch is 9-3. Thiner has won her the last six singles matches while Cahill and Tiedemann have each won seven of the last nine. The pairings of Cahill/Lynch and Thiner/Tiedemann have successfully won two straight doubles and the Anderson/Erickson duo have notched five doubles victories this season.