EMMITSBURG, Md. (Oct. 25, 2010) – Competing in its first match of the fall, the Saint Francis University men's tennis team earned a, 5-2, win over Northeast Conference opponent Mount St. Mary's on Saturday evening.

With only two weeks of training, the Red Flash wasted no time in giving new head Coach Paul Tobin his first win at SFU, by winning two doubles and clinching four singles.

"I am so impressed with the way these men played,” said Tobin. “They won on pure heart and drive. I can't wait to see what they can do when they have more time to develop ".

Despite the fact that there have been absolutely no doubles practices during the last two months, the No. 1 team of Elahn Pogue (St. Catherines, Ontario/West Park) and Nate Fleming (Gas City, Ind./Missossonewa) started things off by edging The Mount's Matt Blake and Taylor Place 8-7, which ended in a 12-10 tie-breaker.

The No. 2 team of Steve Kowalski and Steve Robinson easily handled the Mountaineers' Mike Solomon and Mike Zabeteicis, 8-4.

“Since Coach Tobin has taken the reins, there has been a very strict practice regiment," said Kowalski, who is also a team captain. “Coach has brought a high level of professionalism and structure to our program. With his strict training regiment I feel confident that we can compete with the big boys and compete well in the conference finals.”

Saint Francis' only loss of the day came at No. 3 singles as Andrea Rosa and Peter Dietrich (Halifax, Nova Scotia/Citadel) dropped a close 9-7 match to Patrick Plastau and Andrew Marincci.

In singles play, SFU took six out of the eight matches. No. 2 Steve Robinson played a hard three-setter overcoming Mike Solomon 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

No. 4 Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) easily took down Mount St. Mary's Taylor Place 6-1, 6-2, while No. 5 Nate Fleming (Gas City, Ind./Missossonewa) blew away The Mount's Patrick Plastow 6-0, 6-2. No. 6 Peter Dietrich (Halifax, Nova Scotia/Citadel) saw an easy first set to Andrew Marinvcci, but then ran a close second to win 6-1, 7-6 (9-7). In other wins, Kirby Mendez and Youlin Natchev eased to a pair of 8-0 decisions. Devin Layton (Johnstown, PA/Westmont-Hilltop) won at No. 9, 8-4.