EBENSBURG, Pa. (March 13, 2011) – The Saint Francis men's tennis team was unable to capitalize on any momentum from their recent win at Coppin State, falling to Villanova, 7-0, on Sunday morning at the Ebensburg Tennis Center.

Playing with a newly-remodeled lineup, the Red Flash struggled against the Wildcats in doubles play, falling in straight sets.

“I am not happy with this loss,” said SFU head coach Paul Tobin. “I know my men can compete better in doubles and we certainly had our chances. Villanova broke us too many times and this is not something you can do in doubles if you want to pick up a doubles point. We're struggling to find consistency right now.”

Villanova followed suit in singles competition, sweeping the Red Flash despite a solid effort. The biggest battle of the match came at the No. 3 spot, where Stephen Kowalski (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) took forced a second set but fell to Nova's Tom O'Brien in the tie-breaker, 6-2.

Kowalski dropped the first set, 6-3, but came back to win the second, 6-4.

“These tough scores represent our challenge to beat better players,” said Tobin. “I don't mind the loss – Villanova is a deep team with talented players. We just have to figure out a way to do a better job holding serve and pushing the sets to 6-4 or 7-5. There have been a couple occasions where out lack of depth has caught up with us and this is one of them.”

The Flash get back to work on Saturday when they visit Morgan State.


Villanova 7, Saint Francis 0
March 13, 2011 | Ebensburg Tennis Center (Ebensburg, Pa.)

Singles
1. Tom O'Brien/Trent Alenik (VU) def. Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad)/Nathaniel Fleming (SFU), 8-3
2. John Drosick/Matt Colonnese (VU) def. Stephen Kowalski (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East)/Youlian Natchev (Sofia, Bulgaria/Rovel College) (SFU), 8-3
3. Dave Shaheen/Ryan Peyton (VU) def. Matt Jurjevich/Kirby Mendez (SFU), 8-1

Doubles
1. Dave Shaheen (VU) def. Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) (SFU), 6-1, 6-3
2. Trent Alenik (VU) def. Nathaniel Fleming (SFU), 6-2, 6-1
3. Tom O'Brien (VU) def. Stephen Kowalski (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) (SFU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
4. Ryan Peyton (VU) def. Youlian Natchev (Sofia, Bulgaria/Rovel College) (SFU), 6-1, 6-1
5. Matt Colonnese (VU) def. Kirby Mendez (SFU), 6-3, 6-2
6. Andrew Adler (VU) def. Matt Jurjevich (SFU), 6-1, 6-0