The St. John’s men’s tennis team is set to travel to Fort Myers, Florida, for two matches this week. The team will play Mercer on Thursday at 11 a.m., followed by a match against Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) on Friday at 5 p.m. Both matches will take place at the FGCU Tennis Complex.
Last weekend, St. John’s achieved three wins in Cleveland, including a close 4-3 victory over Cleveland State and conference wins against Butler (6-1) and Xavier (7-0). The Red Storm currently holds a 9-1 overall record and is 2-0 in BIG EAST play.
Danilo Raicevic and Radomir Tomic were recognized as the BIG EAST Doubles Team of the Week after going undefeated in doubles matches during the previous weekend. This is their first time receiving this honor this season.
Mercer arrives in Fort Myers with a three-match winning streak, having defeated Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Young Harris, and Georgia State. Under head coach Eric Hayes, Mercer finished last season with a strong performance in Southern Conference play and reached the conference tournament semifinals.
Thursday’s meeting between St. John’s and Mercer will be their first ever matchup.
FGCU comes into Friday’s contest also on a three-match winning streak with recent victories over Elon, UNC Greensboro, and Queens (N.C.). In their last ASUN semifinal appearance, FGCU narrowly lost to Stetson by a score of 4-3. This will be the third all-time meeting between St. John’s and FGCU; FGCU won their most recent encounter in January 2016 while St. John’s claimed victory in their first meeting in March 2009.
After these matches in Florida, St. John’s will return home to host Creighton on March 12 at the USTA National Tennis Center with play scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
St. John’s Red Storm Men’s Tennis competes as part of NCAA Division I athletics within the Big East Conference (official website). The program represents St. John’s University and participates regularly in intercollegiate competitions as part of its collegiate athletics program (official website).
