Saint John's opens its 2026 season by hosting No. 21 Gustavus Adolphus at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, at Sta-Fit in Sartell.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Six Saint John's tennis student-athletes competed at the 2025 ITA Midwest Regional Championships and Gustavus Adolphus' Midwest Open back on Sept. 26-27 in Mankato and St. Peter. 

Junior Alex Draeger (Litchfield, Minn.) and senior Taylor Duncan (Benson, Minn.) represented SJU in the singles competition of the ITA Midwest tournament, falling in straight sets on the first day of competition. Draeger battled Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Dawson Froemming to a 6-3 and 6-4 loss, while Duncan fell 6-4 and 6-0 to Mateo Torre of St. Scholastica. 

Draeger and freshman Nam Tran (Shakopee, Minn./Eden Prairie) won their first-round match of ITA doubles, 8-5, over Bethel's Zack Chaffey and Watson Sheard. The tandem dropped their second-round bout to Jack Hehll and Ty Schneider of Wisconsin-La Crosse, seeded ninth in the tournament.

Tran advanced to the Midwest Open G semifinals, winning his first collegiate singles match by two scores of 6-4 over Dubuque's Tanner Laube. He defeated Wartburg's Kellen Jones 6-4 and 6-1 on Day 2 and won set one of his next match 6-4 over Loras' Hayden Martin, but dropped set two 7-6 and the tiebreaker 10-6 to the eventual bracket champion.  

Fellow freshman Jack Gangl (Elk River, Minn.) won his first singles draw 6-1 and 6-1 but fell in the next round to Macalester's Ezra Mahoney, 6-2 and 6-0. Sophomore Andrew Eckmann (Eagan, Minn./Two Rivers) and freshman Henry Raiche (Maple Plain, Minn./Orono) each fell in their first round of Midwest Open singles on Friday.

Both Midwest Open doubles teams (Eckman/Raiche and Duncan/Gangl) lost their first match, 8-4.

THE 2025 SEASON: The Johnnie tennis team finished last season tied for seventh in the MIAC with a 3-6 record (8-9 overall). Draeger and junior Sam Wolden (St. Louis Park, Minn.) combined to earn All-MIAC honors in doubles with Wolden also earning All-MIAC honors for the second-straight year in singles competition. Draeger was named All-MIAC honorable mention in singles.

The duo posted a record of 11-7 (5-4 MIAC) at No. 2 doubles. Wolden finished the season 11-5 (6-2 MIAC) at No. 2 singles, while Draeger was 16-4 (6-3 MIAC) across Nos. 4-6 singles. Draeger's 16 singles wins were the most by a Johnnie since Fabricio Moncada '13 went 20-6 in 2013.

A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus starts its season against SJU and Bethel on Friday, with some members of the team travelling to Sartell to play SJU and others staying in St. Peter to host Bethel. On Saturday, the Gusties host Division I North Dakota and NAIA Morningside (Iowa). Seniors Gage Gohl and Tyler Haddorff, who were named the MIAC Doubles Team of the Year for the second consecutive year in 2025, return. The duo also won the 2024 NCAA Division III national championship in doubles. The Gusties also bring back three other All-MIAC selections in junior Dominik Knutson and sophomores Noah Hakim and Owen Skanse.

LAST SPRING: Then-No. 25 Gustavus handed Saint John's a 9-0 defeat last April 11 (2025). The Gusties won all six singles matches in straight sets.

Cooper Anderson '25 (No. 3), Draeger (No. 4) and senior Josh Peterson (No. 6; Perham, Minn.) led SJU with three points in the first set of their singles matches.

Draeger and Wolden recorded the Johnnies' closest doubles match with an 8-3 loss at No. 2.

FEATURE STORY: Alex Draeger has long had an interest in sports analytics.
 
Part of that comes from growing up as a coach's kid. The Saint John's junior is the son of Matthew Draeger, the head girls tennis and boys basketball coach at Litchfield High School.
 
Alex, a three-sport standout for the Dragons himself, played for his father and grew up watching him break down film and put together lineups.
 
"It just fits my personality," he said. "I love getting into the details of stuff, and I've always been interested in basketball and the numbers side of it. One of the first things I do each morning when I wake up is to check the box scores from the NBA the previous night to try and get a feel for how things are doing.
 
"Part of that, no doubt, comes from being a coach's kid – sitting in on film sessions, seeing all the detailed, arranged stuff he did. I was really fascinated by that."
 
That analytical mindset has also helped Draeger on the tennis court, where he has developed into an All-MIAC performer for the Johnnies.
 
As a sophomore a year ago, he finished with a 16-4 record in singles play, the most singles wins in the program since Fabricio Moncada '13 went 20-6 in 2013. He and classmate Sam Wolden also joined forces as a doubles team for the first time, finishing 11-7 and earning all-conference honors.
 
"The great thing about playing with Sam is that we're good friends off the court too, so we each know what the other is thinking most of the time," said Draeger, who like Wolden was paired with a senior in doubles play their freshmen seasons.
 
"We both learned a lot our first year playing with guys who had been through all this before and getting the chance to watch how they approached things. That helped a lot too. But I connected with Sam before we even got here. We played in a doubles tournament together before our freshman year and I got to know him really well. We've both played a lot of tennis and we approach things the same way."
 
That approach has proven effective, especially for Draeger, who head coach Jack Bowe said is expected to start the season at No. 1 singles.
 
"He came on really strong last season and I think he's ready to make that step up," Bowe said. "Alex has probably one of the best returns in the MIAC. He has such good hands. He reads the ball so early and he has great instincts."

Off the court, Draeger is majoring in computer science, which he hopes will help prepare him for an analytic career in the sports field.

"I had the chance to sit down with some of the guys who do analytics for the Timberwolves, and they told me coding and that kind of stuff is really helpful to know if I want to get into their field," Draeger said. "That's kind of what drew me to my major."

Draeger also works in the athletic communications office at SJU – another way he's trying to set up his future professional path.

"Jack (Bowe) connected me with (SJU director of athletic communications) Ryan (Klinkner)," Draeger said. "He knew this is the field I wanted to get into, so he reached out and got me an interview. I really like what I'm doing. 

"Anytime you can work around sports, it's great."

Of course, tennis is the sport Draeger is focused on most. And he said his interest in analytics comes in handy there as well.

"I'm actually going through things and breaking them down in my head during a match," he said. "Like if I'm missing a few backhands in a certain spot, I try to process what I'm doing and what I need to change up. What are the things I need to avoid doing to prevent getting into a bad spot again.
 
"So it really does help."
 
And after poring over the data, Draeger believes SJU has a chance to compete with some of the MIAC's top contenders this season.
 
"Our goal is to get back in the conference playoffs," said Draeger, whose team hasn't done that since 2023. "That's a realistic goal. We have some top guys returning and some younger guys who have gotten a lot better. We know who the usual suspect are, and if we play as well as we're capable of, we feel like we can be up there too."