Tennis teams nearing end of ’24-’25 season

With only a few games remaining on their respective schedules, both the CSB and SJU tennis teams hope to have strong finishes in seasons that have not quite gone as planned.

The Johnnies, with two games remaining, currently hold a 7-8 overall record, and a 2-5 conference record.

With five games left to play the Bennies have an overall record of 5-9, with a record of 2-6 in MIAC contests.

Both teams opened their 2025 seasons with a loss at St. Olaf, with the Johnnies losing 4-5 and the Bennies losing 2-7. After that, the teams took a trip to Florida over spring break.

“We go on spring break, we have opportunities to play good teams, medium teams and I think it’s a waste of our time to play weaker teams. We don’t improve by doing that,” head tennis coach Jack Bowe said. SJU played five games and finished with a 3-2 record, while the Bennies managed a 3-3 record in six games.

The biggest factor affecting both teams this season has been the number of young players each team has, as well as the lack of experience. The Johnnies have a total of 11 athletes on the team this year, with three first-years, two sophomores, four juniors and two seniors. The Bennies’ 12 athlete roster is made up of five first-years, five sophomores, one junior and one senior.

“Because we have a young team, a lot of us sophomores and juniors have to step up and take those leadership roles, which I think is really important,” CSB sophomore Marie Labenski said.

The Johnnies have been led this season by senior Cooper Anderson, who plays the number three singles and the number one doubles with his partner, senior Ryan Will, who also plays the number one singles matches. They have also seen strong performances from sophomore Sam Wolden in the number two singles matches and the number two doubles with his partner, sophomore Alex Draeger.

“What I think is one of the strengths of our team dynamic is those guys who aren’t playing in the lineup this year, they know that they could hop right in the lineup in any of those matches and compete,” Anderson said.

Playing the number one singles matches for the Bennies is senior Sophia Jonas, who also plays the number one doubles with sophomores Ella Marohl and Kate Perbix at different points this season. Marohl also plays the number two singles matches. The number two and three doubles teams have seen different looks throughout the season, with first-years Allyson Yahn, Ava Stritesky and Lila Collins finding themselves in the lineup. Labenski has also been contributing well for the Bennies, with a 5-1 record playing one undefeated number five singles match and five matches of number six singles.

“We want to keep building momentum, stay competitive, show up, do our best at every match and then just trusting the process and trusting in each of our individual skills and what we bring to the team,” Labenski said.

“[It] is a tough conference. There is no easy match in our conference right now, everybody is loaded and everybody’s doing well,” Bowe said.

The MIAC is represented well on the national stage for tennis. On the women’s side, five teams from this conference are ranked in the top 75 nationally, and three teams are within the top 50 with Bethel at 49, Gustavus Adolphus at 35 and Carleton coming in at 24. For the men, two teams are ranked in the top 35; Carleton is ranked at 33 and Gustavus Adolphus at 25.

The Bennies will play three matches at home against the College of St. Scholastica, Northwestern and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, while the Johnnies will play one home match against St. Scholastica before both teams travel to face Carleton and close out their regular seasons.