Saint John's tennis travels to Florida for five matches over spring break March 16-21 in the Orlando area.

THE SCHEDULE IN FLORIDA
-Sunday, March 16: 1 p.m. ET vs. Western Connecticut State, Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs
-Monday, March 17: 2:30 p.m. ET vs. Wisconsin-La Crosse, USTA National Campus in Orlando
-Tuesday, March 18: 9 a.m. ET vs. St. Norbert (Wis.), Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs
-Wednesday, March 19: 11 a.m. ET vs. Colby-Sawyer (N.H.), USTA National Campus in Orlando
-Friday, March 21: 5 p.m. ET vs. Crown, USTA National Campus in Orlando

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (1-2, 0-1 MIAC) opened its conference schedule with a narrow 5-4 loss to St. Olaf on Sunday (March 9) in Owatonna. The difference proved to be the Oles' two doubles wins at Nos. 1 and 3 as the two teams split the six singles matches.

Sophomores Alex Draeger (Litchfield, Minn.) and Sam Wolden (St. Louis Park, Minn.) combined for three of the Johnnies' four points. The duo won at No. 2, 8-7 (8-6), and split to claim a singles match each. Wolden won his bout at No. 2 in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4) and 6-2, while Draeger battled back from a 6-4 defeat in his first set at No. 6 with a 6-3 win in the second and a 10-8 margin in the super-breaker.

Junior Josh Peterson (Perham, Minn.) provided SJU's other win at No. 5 singles (6-1, 6-4). Senior Cooper Anderson (St. Paul, Minn./White Bear Lake) suffered a super-breaker loss at No. 3 singles: 6-4, 4-6, 10-5.

LAST YEAR'S TRIP: The Johnnies suffered five losses during last year's spring-break trip to the Orlando area: 7-0 to Division I North Carolina A&T, 5-4 to Allegheny (Pa.), 6-1 to Division II Cedarville (Ohio), 8-1 to Wheaton (Ill.) and 5-4 to Ursinus (Pa.). The five opponents had a combined record of 40-16.

THE OPPONENTS
-Western Connecticut State: Sunday's match is the season opener for the Wolves, who went 9-10 (3-2 LEC) last season…junior Aiden Burke led the team with an 11-7 singles record (10-7 at No. 2) and a 12-7 mark in doubles competition, all at No. 1.

-Wisconsin-La Crosse: The Eagles are 12-2 and begin their trip Monday against SJU…UWL defeated the Johnnies 5-2 back on Feb. 23 in Rochester…the Eagles swept the three doubles spots for the single point and SJU received wins from senior Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.) at No. 1 singles (6-3, 6-0) and freshman Cole Haabala (Alexandria, Minn.) at No. 6 (1-6, 6-3, 10-6)…UWL junior Brady Horstmann leads the team with a 13-4 singles record, including a 9-3 mark at No. 3, while freshman Tyler Schneider is 11-3 (10-2 at No. 2)…Horstmann and junior Luke Hinchcliffe are 10-4 with a 7-2 record at No. 3 doubles.

-St. Norbert (Wis.): The Green Knights are 1-5 and play three matches in Florida before taking on SJU Tuesday morning…junior Brett Daniels was All-NACC last season in both singles and doubles, and is currently 3-3 at No. 1 singles and 5-1 at No. 1 doubles with junior Jackson Harpt…Harpt is 3-3 at No. 2 singles. 

-Colby-Sawyer (N.H.): The Chargers are 1-0 and play four matches in Sunshine State before facing the Johnnies Wednesday afternoon…junior Zsombor Homonnay was an All-GNAC singles selection in his first two collegiate seasons, All-GNAC in doubles and the 2023 GNAC Rookie of the Year.

-Crown: The Polars are currently 1-4 on the season and play NAIA Hastings (Neb.) today before traveling to Florida…Crown returns All-UMAC honorable mention David Comings, who is currently 1-4 at No. 1 singles and 2-3 at No. 1 doubles with his brother, Matt. 

SERIES HISTORIES: Two of next week's five opponents – Colby-Sawyer (N.H.) and Crown – are new for SJU on the tennis court. Two other meetings will be the second, as the Johnnies defeated Western Connecticut State 8-1 in 2016 (in Orlando) and St. Norbert by the same score in 2019 (in Sartell). SJU is now 0-2 against La Crosse after last month's loss.