Saint John's tennis continues conference play with its home opener vs. Concordia-Moorhead at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at Sta-Fit in Sartell.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (1-0, 1-0 MIAC) opened its 2022 season with a 6-3 road win at St. Scholastica last Saturday (Feb. 12) at the Virginia Indoor Tennis Center in Virginia. St. Scholastica claimed wins at Nos. 1 and 2 singles, as well as No. 1 doubles, but SJU registered victories in the other six matches.

Junior Peyton Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) and freshman Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.) posted an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles and the duo of sophomores Will Deters (Minneapolis, Minn./Wayzata) and Mark Rosen (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) gave SJU a 2-1 lead after doubles competition with a convincing 8-2 victory at No. 3.

Rosen collected a straight-set win at No. 3 singles (6-3, 7-5) and Will followed suit with the same at No. 4, thanks to a second-set tie-breaker (6-3, 7-6/7-3).

Sophomores Mike Krasowski (Wausau, Wis./East) and Daniel Perez (Quito, Ecuador) rounded out the match with wins at Nos. 5 and 6 singles, respectively. Krasowski dropped a close 7-6 (12-10) loss in the first set but battled back for a 6-1 decision in the second and a 10-7 victory in the super-breaker.

Juniors Hunter Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) and Wil McDowell (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) suffered an 8-7 (7-3) defeat at No. 1 doubles.

A LOOK AT THE COBBERS: Concordia (0-1, 0-1 MIAC) started its 2022 season with a 9-0 loss to Macalester last Saturday (Feb. 12) in Fargo, N.D. The Cobbers forfeited No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles, and totaled nine points in the other seven bouts. Senior Jake Peters and sophomore Séan Martin fell 8-3 in their doubles match at No. 1, and Peters suffered (6-0, 6-3) defeat at No. 1 singles. CC was scheduled to host Northwestern today (Feb. 18) in Fargo, but the match was postponed to March 26 due to inclement weather.  

LAST YEAR: SJU started the 2021 season with an 8-1 conference win over Concordia last March 13 (2021) at Courts Plus in Fargo, N.D. The Johnnies swept all three doubles matches and Nos. 1-5 singles.

Thomas Gillach '21 and McDowell posted an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles, while Hunter and Peyton Fischer notched an 8-2 victory at No. 2. Deters and Rosen earned their first collegiate win at No. 3, 8-4.

In singles play, Gillach cruised to a shutout victory (6-0, 6-0) and McDowell won at No. 2 (6-1, 6-2). Peyton Fischer was next at No. 3 (6-0, 6-3) and the third Fischer, Will, won a nail-biter at No. 5: 6-1, 5-7, 11-9.

Sophomore Mason Meyer (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) recorded his first collegiate win at No. 4 (6-2, 6-2).

The lone win for Concordia, at No. 6 singles, came via the super-breaker: 5-7, 6-3 and 11-9.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 27-9 against the Cobbers since 1989 with wins in each of the last four meetings and nine of the last 10. SJU has won nine straight at home (indoors at Sta-fit, outdoors in Collegeville or St. Joseph).