The St. John’s men’s tennis team defeated Villanova 4-0 in the opening round of the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament on April 17 at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center in Cayce, South Carolina. With this victory, St. John’s moves closer to its seventh straight appearance in the conference championship and will face either Georgetown or Butler in Saturday’s semifinal.
This result highlights St. John’s continued success within NCAA Division I athletics as part of the Big East Conference, according to the official website. The Red Storm men’s tennis program is affiliated with St. John’s University and competes as a collegiate athletics program, also representing the university’s mascot in intercollegiate competitions.
In Friday’s match, Mats Pottbecker and Sergej Zivkovic started strong for St. John’s with a doubles win on court two, while Danilo Raicevic and Radomir Tomic clinched the doubles point with their own victory on court one. In singles play, Semen Agynskyy won decisively at No. 3 singles before Venedikt Tsirikidze extended the lead at No. 5 singles; Tomic then sealed the sweep with a win at No. 1 singles.
St. John’s has now improved its all-time record against Villanova to 19-0 and has not lost a point to them since 2017, as reported by the official website of St. John’s Red Storm Men’s Tennis.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s semifinal against Georgetown or Butler, St. John’s holds a historical advantage over Georgetown in postseason play—including last year’s semifinal victory—and recently earned a regular season win against them earlier this month.
The Red Storm men’s tennis team continues its tradition of intercollegiate competition within NCAA Division I under St. John’s University according to information from their official website.
