Saint John's tennis takes on Hamline at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at the Rogers Tennis Center in Rogers.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (6-7, 3-2 MIAC) went 1-1 last weekend on the road. The Johnnies won their fourth-straight match with a 6-3 decision at Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday (March 25), but the streak came to a halt with a 9-0 loss on Sunday at then-No. 14 Gustavus Adolphus.

Saint John's 6, at Concordia 3
SJU nearly swept the three doubles matches but suffered an 8-7 (9-7) defeat at No. 1. Senior Peyton Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) and sophomore Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.) won their fourth-consecutive match at No. 2 (8-3), while Hunter and Will Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) took their third in a row at No. 3 (8-2).

The Cobbers picked up wins at Nos. 1-2 singles, the latter via the super-breaker, but the Johnnies cruised to victories at Nos. 3-6 with 6-0 shutouts in four of the eight sets: Will at No. 3 (6-1 and 6-0); Hunter Fischer at No. 4 (6-2 and 6-0); junior Daniel Perez (Quito, Ecuador) at No. 5 (6-0 and 6-0); and junior Mark Rosen (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) at No. 6 (6-4 and 6-2). All four Johnnies are now 3-1 in MIAC singles play.

at Gustavus Adolphus 9, Saint John's 0
The senior duo of Hunter and Will Fischer came the closest to victory for SJU with an 8-7 (10-8) loss at No. 3 doubles. 

Peyton Fischer and Rosen both lost a set with a 7-6 (7-5) decision at Nos. 2 and 6 singles, respectively, while Perez went to 7-5 in his second set at No. 5 against the Gusties (16-5, 6-0 MIAC).

A LOOK AT THE PIPERS: Hamline (9-4, 1-3 MIAC) takes the court Saturday night with wins in five of its last six matches, including each of the last two: Sunday (March 26) vs. Concordia (W, 6-3) and Tuesday (March 28) vs. Martin Luther (W, 8-1). A pair of Pipers – junior Isaac Hultberg (10-6, 8-5 at No. 2) and sophomore Surprise Taylor (10-4, 7-2 at No. 5) – have 10 singles win on the season, while HU is a combined 21-5 at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. Seniors Sean Le and Sam Thompson are 9-3 (2-2 MIAC) at No. 2 and Taylor/freshman Zach Irrthum are 7-1 (2-1 MIAC) at No. 3.

LAST SPRING: SJU closed the 2022 regular season with a 9-0 shutout of Hamline back on April 28 in Sartell.

The closest doubles match for SJU against Hamline was an 8-5 decision by Hunter Fischer and senior Wil McDowell (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) at No. 1.

Peyton Fischer needed the super-breaker for his victory at No. 2 singles (6-1, 2-6, 10-6) and Ryan Will won his second set at No. 3 with a 7-3 tie-breaker. The duo collected an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles to improve to 11-5 (6-3 MIAC) on the year. SJU cruised to straight-set wins at the other four singles bouts.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 29-3 against Hamline since the 1992 season, including a current 16-match win streak since the Pipers' last series win in 2006 (7-2 in Sartell).