Saint John's travels to face St. Thomas for its MIAC tennis opener at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (4-3 overall) moved above .500 on the year by going 3-1 during its spring-break trip in Tampa, Fla., last week. SJU won all six singles matches in all three wins. For the first time in 17 seasons under the direction of head coach Jack Bowe, the Johnnies won all six singles matches in straight sets, 6-0, to defeat Susquehanna (Pa.) 9-0 on March 3. SJU also defeated John Carroll (Ohio) and Division II Post (Conn.), both by scores of 8-1, and lost to NAIA Tennessee Wesleyan, 7-2.

MIAC OPENER, FINALLY: The Johnnies' originally-scheduled conference opener was a road trip to Saint Mary's on Feb. 22, but the match was postponed due to weather and rescheduled for April 25.

A LOOK AT THE TOMMIES: St. Thomas (3-2, 2-1 MIAC) was picked to finish third out of 10 teams in the 2014 MIAC Coaches' Preseason poll released Feb 6. Half of UST's roster is made up of freshmen and the Tommies need to replace four starters from a team that registered an 11-5 record last season. UST, takes on Concordia-Moorhead Saturday before hosting the Johnnies Sunday afternoon, is 13-16 in singles competition through five matches this season.

LAST YEAR'S MATCH: St. Thomas swept all three doubles matches and escaped Sartell with a 5-4 win over Saint John's April 20 at Fitness Evolution. SJU bounced back with four wins in six singles matches but missed handing St. Thomas its first conference loss by one point. Fabricio Moncada '13 won his fourth straight with matching 6-3 scores at No. 1. Jack Hansen (Dawson, Minn./Dawson-Boyd) improved to 4-3 in conference play with a win at No. 4 (7-5, 6-4). Zach Shriwise '13 and Willie Paul '13 followed with victories at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively.

CLOSE CALLS: SJU has lost each of its last two meetings to the Tommies by a 5-4 score. The Johnnies' last tennis win over UST was a 5-4 decision on Feb. 21, 2009.