Saint John’s tennis plays host to Minnesota-Morris for a 5 p.m. non-conference match on Friday, March 26, at Sta-Fit in Sartell and returns to conference play with a 1:30 p.m. match on Saturday, March 27, at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John’s (3-0, 3-0 MIAC) has won its first three matches of the season by a score of 8-1, including victories over St. Olaf (March 20) and Hamline (March 21) last weekend at Sta-Fit.
at Saint John’s 8, St. Olaf 1
The Johnnies swept all six singles matches, five in straight sets, in the victory over St. Olaf.
Senior Thomas Gillach (Lindstrom, Minn./Chisago Lakes) and sophomore Wil McDowell (Sioux Falls, S.D./O’Gorman) won at No. 1 doubles (8-3), while sophomores Hunter and Peyton Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) matched the score at No. 3. St. Olaf won at No. 2 doubles, 8-5.
Gillach (No. 1), McDowell (No. 3) and Peyton Fischer (No. 4) won their singles matches in straight sets. Senior Nate Jordre (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) won at No. 2 singles, his first match of the season, via the super-breaker: 3-6, 6-2, 11-9. Freshman Mason Meyer (Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson) claimed a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 5 and freshman Mike Krasowski (Wausau, Wis./East) won his first collegiate match at No. 6 singles, 6-4 and 7-6 (7-1).
at Saint John’s 8, Hamline 1
SJU swept all three doubles matches, the closest an 8-3 decision at No. 3, and won five of the six singles bouts in straight sets against Hamline.
Gillach, McDowell, Meyer and Peyton Fischer all moved to 3-0 on the year in singles play. Gillach and McDowell scored an 8-0 shutout at No. 1 doubles, while sophomore brothers Fischer and Hunter Fischer (Spicer, Minn./Willmar) scored an 8-3 win at No. 3. Both tandems are 3-0 this season.
Jordre won his first set at No. 2 singles, 6-0, but Nazeer Robinson battled back to win the second (7-5) and took the match for HU via the super-breaker, 12-10.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Gillach improved to 3-0 at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles with a pair of wins last weekend. He has now won 17 of his last 20 doubles matches and 15 of his last 19 singles bouts dating back to the 2019 season.
A LOOK AT THE COUGARS: Minnesota-Morris (1-1, 0-0 UMAC) started the 2021 season with a 5-4 win Feb. 26 over Dubuque (Iowa) and returned to the court 16 days later with a 9-0 loss at Wisconsin-Superior. UMM was picked fifth out of eight teams in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) preseason coaches’ poll. The Cougars return their top three singles players – sophomores Nick Garmen and Taiyo Larson, and senior Jack Flicker – from last year’s team that went 1-1.
IN 2018: SJU gave up two games in a 9-0 non-conference win over Minnesota-Morris the last time these two teams met on Feb. 10, 2018, at Sta-Fit. The Johnnies swept all three doubles matches with 8-0 scores and won the first set in all six singles matches, 6-0. The Cougars won a game each in the second set at Nos. 2 and 4 singles. Two current Johnnies, Gillach and Jordre, competed in the victory. Gillach cruised to a win at No. 3 singles (6-0, 6-0) and teamed up with Tim Larson ’18 for a shutout at No. 1 doubles. Jordre and Jonah Punnoose ’19 matched the score at No. 2.
SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 7-2 all-time against the Cougars, including wins in each of the last six meetings (a combined score of 49-1).
A LOOK AT THE GUSTIES: Gustavus Adolphus (6-0, 2-0 MIAC) has four, 9-0 shutouts so far this season, including its last time out (March 20) over NAIA Morningside (Iowa). The Gusties are 34-2 in singles play, a loss each at Nos. 1 and 4, and 17-1 in doubles competition.
IN 2019: Then-No. 15 Gustavus shut out SJU 9-0 back on March 23, 2019, in St. Peter. The Gusties surrendered three points to SJU in doubles competition and won the six singles matches in straight sets. Gillach saw his four-match win streak come to an end at No. 1 singles, 6-0 and 6-4.