Saint John's tennis travels to Florida for four matches over spring break March 16-20 in the Orlando area.

THE SCHEDULE IN FLORIDA
-Monday, March 16: 11:30 a.m. ET vs. Western Connecticut State, Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs
-Tuesday, March 17: 6 p.m. ET vs. Wisconsin-La Crosse, Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando
-Thursday, March 19: 3 p.m. ET vs. Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Oak Street Community Center in Kissimmee
-Friday, March 20: 11 a.m. ET vs. Crown, USTA National Campus in Orlando

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (0-3, 0-3 MIAC) suffered a 6-1 loss to St. Olaf this past Sunday (March 8) at Sta-Fit in Sartell.

Junior Alex Draeger (Litchfield, Minn.) and sophomore Cole Haabala (Alexandria, Minn.) posted a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles for SJU, but the Oles swept Nos. 2 (6-4) and 3 (6-2) for the team point.

Haabala improved to 2-1 (2-1 MIAC) with the Johnnies' lone singles win at No. 5: 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 10-7.

Freshman Nam Tran (Shakopee, Minn./Eden Prairie) just missed his first MIAC win at No. 4 singles with a 6-3 victory in his first set, but dropped the second 6-0 and the super-breaker, 10-8.

LAST YEAR'S TRIP: The Johnnies went 3-2, in which both losses were 4-3 decisions, during last year's spring-break trip (March 16-21, 2025) in Orlando, Fla: Western Connecticut State (W, 7-0); Wisconsin-La Crosse (L, 3-4); St. Norbert (Wis., W, 6-1); Colby-Sawyer (N.H., L, 3-4); and Crown (W, 7-0).

THE OPPONENTS
-Western Connecticut State: The Wolves open their season Sunday against Scranton (Pa.) before taking on SJU Monday…senior Aiden Burke, an All-Little East Conference (LEC) second-team selection, led the team with an 10-7 singles record at No. 2 and a 9-9 mark in doubles competition, all at No. 1, last spring.

-Wisconsin-La Crosse: The Eagles are 9-3 and play a pair of matches in Florida before facing SJU Tuesday afternoon…UWL defeated the Johnnies 5-2 back on Feb. 23 in Rochester…the Eagles return three members from last season's All-WIAC teams…sophomore Tyler Schneider was named the league's Newcomer of the Year, as well as on the All-WIAC first team for singles…so far this season, Schneider is 4-4 in singles (No. 1) and 7-4 in doubles (No. 1) with senior Jack Hehli…the All-WIAC first-team doubles pairing of junior Alex Aranda and sophomore Nikko Vilwock also returns…Aranda is 6-4 across Nos. 2-3 doubles, while Vilwock is yet to make an appearance in the lineup this season.

-Wisconsin-Eau Claire: The Blugolds are 4-3 and play three matches in Florida before the match with SJU on Thursday afternoon…senior Pablo Rincón is currently 4-2 at No. 1 singles and 4-2 at No. 1 doubles with freshman Danylo Ripeckyj…Ripeckyj is 6-0 at Nos. 1, 2, 4,and 5 singles. 

-Crown: The Polars are currently 2-3 on the season and play four matches in Florida before ending the trip against SJU on Friday…Crown returns All-UMAC second-team selection David Comings, who is currently 1-4 at No. 1 singles and 3-2 at No. 1 doubles, mostly with freshman Ean Clarke, who is 4-1 at No. 2 singles. 

SERIES HISTORIES: Three of next week's opponents are repeats from last year's spring-break trip. SJU defeated Western Connecticut State 7-0 to move to 3-0 all-time against the Wolves and also defeated Crown by the same score in the first meeting between the schools on the tennis court. La Crosse is 3-0 against the Johnnies, who have a 5-4 edge over UWEC.