FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Feb. 18, 2011) -- The Saint Francis University men's team was not able to do too much damage to the Indiana Purdue experienced lineup. Once again our young team is going up against a pretty strong lineup with consistent depth in their 6-7-8 position.

"These established teams are going to be very strong in all positions,” said Red Flash head coach Paul Tobin. “We have to be able to play our 'A' game in order to compete.”

The Flash dropped all three doubles however the No. 2 doubles team of Kirby Mendes (Unionville, Ontario/Niagara Academy of Tennis) and Youlian Natchev (Sofia, Bulgaria/Rovel College) were able to break twice but end up losing, 8-4.

“We are having consistent problems gaining our one point for doubles,” said Tobin. “I am still experimenting with positions in order to see which teams work well with each other.”

In singles play, SFU posted better results despite showing only one win. Some notable scores were Nathaniel Fleming at the No. 3 position, who was able to pull out a close first set only to lose 6-4, 6-1.

At the No. 4 spot, Natchev was also able to work the ball and managed several breaks, before falling, 6-3, 6-2.

The best two matches of the day were from Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) who, at one point had match point in the second set, but failed to convert. In the third set tiebreaker, Rosa lost 10-8.

“This is the best I have seen on Andres play in a long time, said Tobin. “Despite his loss I was happy to see that he was comfortable out there and moving the ball well.”

Saint Francis' only win came from Steve Kowalski who managed to close out a set tiebreaker 13-11 at No. 6 singles.



IPFW 6, Saint Francis 1
Doubles
1.) Roberto Cabrini/Kit Phoon (IPFW) def. Pogue/Flerming (SFU), 8-1
2.) Daniel Kang/Junya Sarvta (IPFW) def. Mendes/Natchev (SFU), 8-4
3.) Derek Romer/Dean Guyer (IPFW) def. Kowalski/ Rosa (SFU), 8-2

Singles
1.) Roberto Cabrini (IPFW) def. Pogue (SFU), 6-2, 6-0
2.) Dean Guyer (IPFW) def. Mendes (SFU), 6-2, 6-1
3.) Daniel Kang (IPFW) def. Fleming (SFU), 6-4, 6-1
4.) Junya Sarvta (IPFW) def. Natchev (SFU), 6-3, 6-2
5.) Eduardo Sztranman (IPFW) def. Rosa (SFU), 7-6, 6-7, 10-8
6.) Kowalski (SFU) def. Derek Romer (IPFW), 7-6, 6-7, 13-11