Saint John's tennis visits No. 13 Gustavus Adolphus in the MIAC semifinals at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in St. Peter. – Live Stats

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (9-9, 5-4 MIAC) opened the MIAC Men's Tennis Playoffs with a 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded St. Scholastica in the tournament's quarterfinal match on Tuesday (April 25) at the Duluth Indoor Sports Complex.

SJU swept all three doubles matches and took three singles matches with a third-set tie-breaker in the win, which avenged a 9-0 defeat to the Saints in the Johnnies' season opener back on Feb. 18 in Sartell.

The doubles tandems of junior Ian Aadland (Brainerd, Minn.)/senior Wil McDowell (Sioux Falls, S.D./O'Gorman) and senior Peyton Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar)/sophomore Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.) won with 8-5 scores at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, while seniors Hunter and Will Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) posted a narrow 8-6 victory at No. 3.

CSS got on the board with a win at No. 5 singles, but P. Fischer made it 4-1 with a victory at No. 2: 6-3, 0-6, 6-1. McDowell clinched the postseason win by taking his match at No. 1: 2-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-4.

H. Fischer recorded the Johnnies' sixth win at No. 4: 6-3, 4-6, 10-5. The third-set tie-breaker was played to 10 points after the team match was decided.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (20-10, 9-0 MIAC) is riding a four-match win streak thanks to a 7-2 victory over Carleton last Saturday (April 22) in Rochester, which clinched the Gusties' 34th-consecutive MIAC title. Senior Nick Aney is ranked fourth, like GAC as a team, as a singles player in Region VII by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). He is 7-6 (1-1 MIAC) at No. 1. Sophomore Marco Siviero is ranked 18th with a 14-16 record (1-0 MIAC). Aney and senior Daniel Fouchier are ranked fourth with a 10-3 record (2-0 MIAC) at No. 1 doubles.

LAST MONTH: Then-No. 14 Gustavus handed SJU a 9-0 defeat earlier this season on March 26 in St. Peter. H. Fischer/W. Fischer came the closest to victory for SJU with an 8-7 (10-8) loss at No. 3 doubles. 

P. Fischer and junior Mark Rosen (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) both lost a set with a 7-6 (7-5) decision at Nos. 2 and 6 singles, respectively, while junior Daniel Perez (Quito, Ecuador) went to 7-5 in his second set at No. 5.