Saint John's tennis travels to face St. Thomas in the first round of the MIAC Playoffs at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (8-10, 4-5 MIAC) closed its regular season with its third consecutive win, 9-0 over Concordia-Moorhead on Sunday (April 27) at Fitness Evolution in Sartell. SJU won all nine matches in straight sets, without the use of tie-breakers, to pick up its third consecutive victory. The Johnnies combined to allow only three match points in eight sets of wins at Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 singles.

AOW: Junior Jordan Otto (Rice, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral) was named the MIAC Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week April 29 for his perfect record as SJU closed the regular season with three straight victories. Otto went 3-0 each in singles (No. 3) and doubles (No. 3) competition as SJU strung together three consecutive wins to end the regular season and earn a trip to this week's six-team MIAC Playoffs. He currently leads the Johnnies with an 11-7 singles record (8-3 at No. 3) and a 10-8 doubles record (6-3 MIAC).

A LOOK AT THE TOMMIES: St. Thomas (10-5, 6-3 MIAC) ended its conference schedule with losses to the league's top two teams, Carleton (6-3) on April 23 and Gustavus Adolphus (9-0) on April 27. The Tommies are led by a trio of freshmen. Burke Anderson is 10-5 in singles competition, including a 9-5 mark at No. 2, while Scott Wall is 11-4 (10-4 at No. 3). The tandem of Anderson and classmate Matt Kavanagh is 10-4 in doubles play (7-4 at No. 2 and 3-0 at No. 3).

WEDNESDAY'S RESULT: If SJU upsets the third-seeded Tommies, it will travel to face nationally-ranked and regular-season conference champion Gustavus Adolphus at 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 2, in St. Peter. The Tommies, meanwhile, would make a similar trip to second-seeded Carleton in the event of an UST victory.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: SJU lost five of the six singles matches, including two via the super-breaker after winning the first set, in a 6-3 loss to St. Thomas earlier this season on March 16 at the Baseline Tennis Center. The Johnnies entered singles competition with a 2-1 lead thanks to a pair of wins in doubles play. Sophomores Jack Hansen (Dawson, Minn./Dawson-Boyd) and Andrew Nagel (Maple Grove, Minn.) won at No. 1 with an 8-6 score and seniors Joe Laue (St. Louis Park, Minn./Holy Angels) and Connor Rust (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) tallied an 8-4 win at No. 2. Hansen, however, was the lone Johnnie to win a singles match against the Tommies, at No. 1, 6-2 and 6-0. Junior Jordan Otto (Rice, Minn./St. Cloud Cathedral) won his first set at No. 4 with a tie breaker, 7-6 (7-3), but dropped the second (6-3) and the super-breaker (10-7). Freshman Steven Wirtz's (Overland Park, Kan./Bishop Miege) loss at No. 5 followed a similar pattern. He won the first set 6-4 but the match slipped away with a 6-1 defeat in the second and a 10-7 clincher in the super-breaker.

SERIES HISTORY: The 6-3 loss to the Tommies was SJU's first, not by a 5-4 score, since 2011. The Johnnies' last tennis win over UST was a 5-4 decision on Feb. 21, 2009.