St. John's University Athletics
St. John’s Earns Top Seed in BIG EAST Tournament for Second Consecutive Season
4/15/2025 10:32:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Red Storm will face eighth-seeded Villanova on Friday in the Quarterfinals
NEW YORK - For the second straight season, the St. John's men's tennis team has earned the No. 1 seed in this week's BIG EAST Tournament presented by JEEP. The eight-team conference tournament will be held in Cayce, S.C., from April 18-20, with a rain date scheduled for the 21st.
The Red Storm will face eighth-seeded Villanova in the quarterfinals on Friday at 12:45 p.m. at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center. When the two squads met last week at Cunningham Park, the Johnnies picked up a 6-0 sweep.
The seeding was determined by the BIG EAST Tennis Championships and Coaches' Advisory Committee. The committee examined each team's regular-season schedule, ITA rankings, results against conference teams, common non-conference opponents and record against ranked teams.
This is the fourth in the last seven years the Johnnies have been selected as the top seed in the tournament, having also claimed the No. 1 spot in 2019, 2022 and 2024. The Red Storm has advanced to the championship match in five straight seasons under Head Coach Dillon Pottish.
St. John's is a program record 21-2 and a perfect 4-0 in BIG EAST play, with one match against Elon on Tuesday remaining prior to the tournament's start on Friday.
Ryota Kaneda has led the Johnnies this season, going a combined 31-1 across all dual-match competitions. The senior was a perfect 16-0 in doubles action, with 15 of the victories coming alongside Adam Groves, and triumphed in 15 of his 16 singles contests.
Max Amling and Leonardo Mileikowsky have also had strong campaigns, winning 13 singles matches each. All 18 of Amling's contests came at the top singles position.
Carl Gustavsson went 11-4 this season and 11-3 on the No. 2 court, while Danilo Raicevic won 10 of his 12 contests, including each of his last four.
The winner of Friday's quarterfinal will face the winner of No. 4 Butler and No. 5 Georgetown in the semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m. Sunday's championship match is also slated to begin at 1 p.m.
For more information on the 2025 BIG EAST Tennis Championships, visit the conference's website
Players Mentioned
