Johnnie tennis to conclude injury-ridden season

The St. John’s tennis team looks to close out an underwhelming regular season with a trio of matches against Macalester, Bethel and Carleton. The Johnnies currently hold a 2-9 record with wins against St. Mary’s and nonconference opponent: Western Connecticut State.

The Johnnies’ 2026 season has been hamstrung by injuries, most notably to junior Sam Wolden who suffered a season ending injury early in the spring and has not appeared in any matches this season. Wolden held a record of 12-4 at No. 2 singles, 10-4 at No. 2 doubles and had one win in one match at No. 1 doubles last season. 

“We have had some unexpected injury’s this season… so we’ve had some guys step up that were not in our original lineup,” sophomore Cole Haabala said via email.

Haabala has managed a record of 3-1 at the No. 5 singles and 2-5 at the No. 4 singles. Alongside his partner, junior Alex Draeger, he holds a record of 5-5 at No. 1 doubles and has one loss in one match at No. 3 doubles. 

“We have performed below expectations this season,” Haabala said via email. 

Despite this, he says that everyone is focused on doing their job as they approach the end of the season. 

Draeger, who has played at the No. 1 singles position, has a record on the season of 1-9 and, alongside his doubles record with Haabala, went 1-1 at the 2025 ITA Midwest Regional with first year partner Nam Tran in the fall. 

“From a record perspective, I think it is fair to say we aren’t where we thought we would be coming into the year, but that can happen when you play the schedule we have in a really good MIAC conference,” Draeger said via email.

First year Jack Gangl has played three matches at the No. 6 singles position with a record of 0-3 and has a record of 5-3 at the No. 3 doubles with senior partner Taylor Duncan. At the No. 2 singles position, Duncan has a record of 2-7 and has played to two losses in two No. 1 singles matches this season.

“I think one factor, especially early in the year, was our lack of experience in collegiate competition. We have a lot of younger guys stepping up into new roles from what they were previously asked to do and sort of learning on the job and are really growing as the year goes on,” Draeger said via email.

Tran holds a record of 1-3 in the No. 4 singles and 2-5 in the No. 3 singles. He and sophomore partner Andrew Eckmann have a record this season of 2-8 at the No. 2 doubles and one loss in one match at No. 1 doubles. Eckmann is 1-3 at No. 6 singles and 2-4 at No. 5 singles this year.

“From a team standpoint, I am just proud of the way this team has stuck together despite our record. At this point in the season, it would be easy for our guys to check out for this last week, but they keep showing up and competing both in practice and matches,” Draeger said.

The Johnnies will play Macalester on Thursday, Bethel on Saturday and Carleton on Sunday to close out their 2026 conference and regular season schedules.

“Overall, our young guys have really expanded their games to become regular contributors to our lineup and will continue to be going forward. They have all stepped up for us and taken every challenge they have faced in stride,” Draeger said. “It will be good to see what kind of players they will be next year with more college experience under their belt.”