Johnnie Tennis takes on Hamline Saturday night

Saint John’s Tennis will take on Hamline at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 1 at the Rogers Tennis Center in Rogers.

SEE JOHANNES: Saint John’s (6-7, 3-2 MIAC) went 1-1 last weekend. The Johnnies won their fourth straight game with a 6-3 decision at Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday (March 25), but the streak came to a halt Sunday with a 9-0 loss at then-No. 14 Gustavus Adolphus.

Saint John’s 6, at Concordia 3

SJU nearly swept three doubles matches, but suffered an 8-7 (9-7) loss at No. 1. Senior Peyton Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) and a sophomore Ryan Will (Northfield, Minn.) won its fourth straight match at No. 2 (8-3), while Hunter and Will Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) took third in a row at No. 3 (8-2).

The Cobbers won Nos. 1-2 singles, the latter via a super-breaker, but the Johnnies prevailed at Nos. 3-6 with 6-0 shutouts in four of eight sets: Will at No. 3 (6-1 and 6-0); Hunter Fischer No. 4 (6-2 and 6-0); junior Daniel Perez (Quito, Ecuador) at number 5 (6-0 and 6-0); and junior Mark Rosen (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) No. 6 (6-4 and 6-2). All four Johnnies are now 3-1 in MIAC singles play.

at 9 Gustavus Adolphus, Saint John’s 0

Senior duo Hunter and Will Fischer came closest to a win for SJU, losing 8-7 (10-8) at No. 3 doubles.

Peyton Fischer and Rosen both lost the set by 7-6 (7-5) decisions at Nos. 2 and 6, respectively, while Perez went 7-5 in the second set against the No. 5 Gusties (16-5, 6-0 MIAC).

OVERVIEW OF THE PIPES: Hamline (9-4, 1-3 MIAC) enters Saturday night having won five of its last six games, including each of the last two: Sunday (March 26) vs. Concordia (W, 6-3) and Tuesday (March 28 ) vs. Martin Luther (L, 8-1). Pipers junior Isaac Hultberg (10-6, 8-5 at No. 2) and sophomore Surprise Taylor (10-4, 7-2 at No. 5) have 10 singles wins on the season, while HU has a combined win. 21-5 at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. Seniors Sean Le and Sam Thompson are 9-3 (2-2 MIAC) at No. 2 and Taylor/freshman Zach Irrthum are 7-1 (2-1 MIAC) at No. 3.

LAST SPRING: SJU finished the 2022 regular season with a 9-0 shutout of Hamline on April 28 in Sartell.

SJU’s closest doubles match against Hamline was 8-5 Hunter Fischer and older Wil McDowell (Sioux Falls, SD/O’Gorman) No. 1.

Peyton Fischer needed a super breaker to win in singles (6-1, 2-6, 10-6) and Ryan Will won his second set at No. 3 with a 7-3 tie. The duo went 8-4 at No. 2 doubles to improve to 11-5 (6-3 MIAC) on the year. SJU won straight in the other four singles matches.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 29-3 against Hamline since 1992, including a current 16-game winning streak dating back to the Pipers’ last series win in 2006 (7-2 at Sartell).