The SJU tennis team ends its regular-season with two matches this weekend, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. contest tonight against Saint Mary's at the Winona Tennis Center. The Johnnies return home to host Concordia-Moorhead for an 11 a.m. match on Sunday, April 27, at the CSB Tennis Courts in St. Joseph (weather permitting).

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (6-10, 2-5 MIAC) returned to the win column with an 8-1 tennis win at Hamline on April 23 at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. SJU swept all six singles matches. Sophomore Jack Hansen (Dawson, Minn./Dawson-Boyd) needed a 7-1 decision in the tie-breaker to win his first set before posting a 6-2 clincher in the second. Senior Joe Laue (St. Louis Park, Minn./Holy Angels) won his match at No. 2 via the super-breaker, 10-3. Junior Jordan Otto (Rice, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral) and senior Connor Rust (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) won at No. 3 (6-2, 6-2) and No. 4 (6-3, 6-2), respectively, while senior Alex Wiegmann (Sunburg, Minn./New London-Spicer) and sophomore Andrew Nagel (Maple Grove, Minn.) combined to allow only two match points at Nos. 5-6. Hansen and Rust won at No. 1 doubles (8-4) and the tandem of Otto and freshman Steven Wirtz (Overland Park, Kan./Bishop Miege) gave SJU a 2-1 lead with an 8-2 victory at No. 3. Hamline posted its lone win at No. 2 doubles, 8-6.

PLAYOFF CHANCES: The Johnnies' lone route to next week's six-team MIAC Tournament is to either finish ahead of, or tie with, Macalester (7-7, 3-4 MIAC) in conference play. To do this, SJU likely needs to win its remaining two matches and have Mac go 1-1 or 0-2 in the remainder of the regular season. The Scots visit Saint Mary's Saturday and wrap up the regular season at home against second-place Carleton Sunday.

A LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Saint Mary's (13-7, 2-5 MIAC) is 1-4 in its last five matches, in which all four losses were to conference opponents: April 5 at Bethel (0-9), April 6 at St. Thomas (0-9), April 12 vs. St. Olaf (0-9) and April 13 at Gustavus (1-8). Sophomore Collin Kaczorowski (13-8, 12-6 at No. 2) and senior Gavin Smith (14-7, 13-5 at No. 3) have combined for a 27-15 singles record. SMU is 62-64 in singles play as a team, but just 9-33 in conference action. The discrepancy also carries over to doubles competition, where the Cardinals are 33-28 (6-15 MIAC).

LAST YEAR: The Johnnies snapped an eight-match losing skid with a 6-3 win over Saint Mary's last April 14 (2013) in Sartell. For just the second time this season, SJU swept all three doubles matches en route to the win. Fabricio Moncada '13 and Hansen tallied the Johnnies' second win of the season at No. 1 doubles with a 9-8 decision, 7-3 in the tie-breaker. Rust and Nagel cruised to an 8-1 win at No. 2 and Willie Paul '13 and Zach Shriwise '13 won with an 8-6 score at No. 3. Moncada improved to 4-1 in conference play (14-5 overall) and 9-4 at No. 1 singles with a straight-set victory (6-3, 6-2) and Paul did the same at No. 6 (6-3, 6-1). Hansen battled back from a close loss in his first set at No. 4 with a 6-2 decision in the second set and a 10-7 tally in the super-breaker.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU is 18-0 against the Cardinals under the direction of head coach Jack Bowe. The last SMU win in the series was a 5-4 decision on March 16, 1997; the season before Bowe took over the program.

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (2-12, 0-7 MIAC) enters tomorrow's match at Bethel with just one win in its last nine matches. Like Saint Mary's, that victory was a non-conference match against Northwestern (Minn.). The Cobbers have struggled in 2014, posting a 15-69 record in singles play (3-39 MIAC) and 7-35 in doubles (2-19 MIAC).

A YEAR AGO: SJU tallied a 7-2 win over Concordia-Moorhead last March 9 (2013) in Fargo, N.D. Moncada led the Johnnies' four, straight-set wins in singles competition at No. 1 (6-1, 6-3). Laue posted identical 6-3 scores at No. 3, while Shriwise and Paul cruised to wins at Nos. 5 (6-3, 6-3) and 6 (6-0, 6-2), respectively, for SJU (2-2 overall). Rust was down 6-5 in the first set at No. 2 before defaulting due to injury. Hansen fell at No. 4 to the Cobbers via the super-breaker: 6-4, 5-7 and 10-6. Moncada and Rust earned an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles earlier in the day, while Laue and Shriwise followed with an 8-5 decision at No. 2. Hansen and Nagel improved to 3-1 (2-0 MIAC) with an 8-1 victory at No. 3.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies have won five of the last six meetings. Each of the last three contests were decided by 7-2 scores (2-1 record for SJU).