Saint John's tennis opens the 2025 season with a pair of neutral-site matches against Wartburg (noon) and Wisconsin-La Crosse (3 p.m.) on Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Rochester Athletic Club.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's tied for fifth in the MIAC with a 4-5 record (5-10 overall) and just missed its 10th trip to the five-team MIAC Playoffs in the last 12 seasons last spring. Sophomore Sam Wolden (St. Louis Park, Minn.) and Ian Aadland '24 earned All-MIAC honors in singles competition, while Will Deters '24 and sophomore Alex Draeger (Litchfield, Minn.) were named All-MIAC honorable for doubles competition.

Wolden posted a 9-3 (7-2 MIAC) record at No. 3 singles in his first collegiate season and also totaled a 4-1 (3-1 MIAC) mark at No. 2 doubles with Aadland. He won six of his final seven matches and became the first Johnnie freshman to earn All-MIAC recognition in singles competition since Thomas Gillach '21 in 2018.

Deters and Draeger ended the 2024 season with an 8-6 record (6-2 MIAC) at No. 3 doubles, including wins in each of their final six matches.

Senior Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.) finished with a 4-12 singles record, including a 4-11 (3-6 MIAC) record at No. 1, though 10 of his 15 matches at the top spot were decided by the super-breaker (4-6 record). Senior Cooper Anderson (St. Paul, Minn./White Bear Lake) posted a 5-2 mark with a 4-1 (2-0 MIAC) record at No. 6.

IN THE FALL: Eight Johnnies competed at the 2024 ITA Midwest Regional and Midwest Open Sept. 27-28 in Mankato and St. Peter. Anderson and Draeger both went 3-1 in the Midwest Open's B singles bracket. Anderson cruised to straight-set wins in his first three matches before falling to Gustavus' Odin Fouchier in the quarterfinals. He posted a 5-2 singles record, including a 4-1 (2-0 MIAC) mark at No. 6, last season.

Draeger, meanwhile, went 3-1 with a bit more adversity. He dropped the first set in all three of his wins, but battled back in the second and prevailed in the super-breaker. Draeger fell to Wisconsin-La Crosse's Brady Horstmann in the quarterfinal match.

A pair of doubles tandems – Anderson and senior Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.), and Draeger and Wolden – collected 1-1 records in the ITA Regional bracket. Junior Taylor Duncan (Benson, Minn.) and freshman Andrew Eckmann (Eagan, Minn./Two Rivers) matched the 1-1 doubles record in the Midwest Open C bracket.

PLAYING TO 7: The NCAA announced a new scoring format pilot for Division III teams in non-conference matches. Each match will consist of seven team points and the team that wins two of the three doubles matches receives one dual-match point. Each singles match is worth one point. In addition, doubles matches will be a 6-game set with a 7-point tiebreak at 6-all. Singles will be a best-of-three.

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Wartburg (5-4, 0-0 ARC) is coming off a four-match weekend in Wisconsin where it went 2-2 with wins over Edgewood (4-3) and Wisconsin Lutheran (5-2), and losses to Carroll (7-0) Concordia-Wisconsin (4-3). The Knights are led by fifth-year Cade Davis, who is currently 0-6 at No. 1 singles and 3-3 at No. 1 doubles this year after being selected 2024 All-ARC in both singles and doubles play. Sunday's match is the first between the Johnnies and Knights on the tennis court.

A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Wisconsin-La Crosse (7-2, 0-0 WIAC) went 2-0 with 6-1 wins against St. Norbert (Wis.) and Lawrence (Wis.) last Saturday (Feb. 15) in Green Bay, Wis. Freshman Tyler Schneider is 9-2, including an 8-1 record at No. 2 singles, while junior Brady Horstmann leads the team with 10 wins (10-4 record) thanks to a 6-3 mark at No. 3. Horstmann and junior Luke Hinchcliffe are 8-3 with a 5-1 record at No. 3 doubles.

SERIES HISTORY: The last time SJU and UWL squared off on the tennis court was an 8-1 decision for the Eagles on April 3, 2004, at Hamline.