EBENSBURG, Pa. (Feb. 25, 2011) – The Saint Francis women's tennis team put forth one of their strongest efforts of the spring, but were unable to turn back the formidable Bucknell Bison, falling 6-1 at the Ebensburg Tennis Center on Friday.

“The scores don't reflect the hard work our women put in during their matches,” said head coach Paul Tobin, whose team was competing with only five players. “Despite the loss, I feel that we are gaining ground and showing that we can work the ball and force errors.”

“Our ongoing challenge will be to reduce the free points we give away on unforced errors and service returns. This is something we are going to have to work on during practices.”

SFU's No. 1 doubles tandem of Tina Miller and Devynn Sarver (Mt. Clemens, Mich./Fraser) dropped a tight 8-3 decision to Lauren Lucido and Courtney Casey.  Bucknell also prevailed in No. 2 doubles, 8-1, over Alex Foty (Oakville, Ontario/Niagara Academy of Tennis) and Laura Husband (Dawson, Pa./Connellsville Area).

Foty would rebound to provide SFU's high point of the match – a 6-2, 1-0 (default) win over the Bison's Lauren Rottkamp.

The Bison took one singles match and one doubles match by default.

Saint Francis returns to action on March 4, when it welcomes St. John's.


Bucknell 6, Saint Francis 1
Doubles
1. Lauren Lucido/Courtney Casey (BU) def. Tina Miller/Devynn Sarver (Mt. Clemens, Mich./Fraser) (SFU), 8-3
2. Dara Dwojewski/Elena Vidrascu (BU) def. Alex Foty (Oakville, Ontario/Niagara Academy of Tennis)/Laura Husband (Dawson, Pa./Connellsville Area) (SFU), 8-1
3. Daria Tuzhikova/Dumitrita Iepuras (BU) won by default

Singles
1. Lauren Lucido (BU) def. Tina Miller (SFU), 6-1, 6-2
2. Dumitrita Iepuras (BU) def. Devynn Sarver (Mt. Clemens, Mich./Fraser) (SFU), 6-1, 6-0
3. Alex Foty (Oakville, Ontario/Niagara Academy of Tennis) (SFU) def. Lauren Rottkamp (BU), 6-2, 1-0, default
4. Elena Vidrascu (BU) def. Laura Husband (Dawson, Pa./Connellsville Area) (SFU), 6-1, 6-1
5. Courtney Casey (BU) def. Julie Meier (St. Mary's, Pa./Elk County Catholic) (SFU), 6-0, 6-0
6. Dara Dwojewski (BU) won by default