Grand Forks, N.D. / Red River

The Carleton men's tennis team scored an impressive nonconference victory Sunday with an 8-1 win over Luther College, which is ranked No. 19 in the region. Leading the way was junior Erik Johnson (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River), who was victorious at No. 1 doubles and rallied from behind to score a dramatic win at No. 2 singles. For his performance, the MIAC sports information directors honored Johnson with his second MIAC Men's Tennis Athlete-of-the-Week award of the season.

Johnson helped the Knights' top doubles tandem score an 8-5 victory against Luther's top team. Johnson's No. 2 singles match started with a 6-2 loss in the first set, but he rallied for a 6-3 win in the second set to even the score, and pulled out a 10-4 win in the super tiebreaker to add an impressive individual win. The match was much closer than the 8-1 score indicated, as three of the singles matches required a super tiebreaker. Johnson's victories helped him improve to 9-6 in doubles play, and 5-6 in singles competition.

Thanks to the victory, Carleton continued its tremendous spring and improve to 17-1 overall. The Knights are 3-0 in conference play, and are one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the MIAC standings. The team will have one of its busiest weeks of the season ahead, with four conference matches in five days. Wednesday Carleton is at St. Olaf (4 p.m.) Friday and at Hamline (4 p.m.) Saturday. The Knights host Macalester Saturday (11 a.m.) and visit Concordia (10 a.m.) Sunday.