BOX SCORE

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. (April 15, 2011) – The eight seed Saint Francis University men's tennis team came up short in its upset bid against second seed Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday afternoon in the Northeast Conference Championship Quarterfinals.

While the final score shows the Knights winning the match 4-0, Saint Francis head coach Paul Tobin contends that the contest was closer than meets the eye. As per tournament protocol, the match ended when FDU clinched the win, halting all unfinished competitions.

“If we could have played out the remaining matches I believe we could have picked up three more wins to close out at 4-3,” said Tobin. “FDU did a much better job of securing wins at the top half. Both Elahn Pogue (St. Catherines, Ontario/West Park) and Nathaniel Fleming fell short of being able to secure single points. They were not at the top of their game and could not find themselves in any offensive positions.”

Unfortunately for the Red Flash, nearly every unfinished competition was close or was tipping in the favor of an SFU player. That included Pogue and Fleming at No. 1 doubles (4-4), Fleming at No. 3 singles (4-6, 6-1), Stephen Kowalski (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) at No. 4 singles (6-4, 6-2) and Youlian Natchev (Sofia, Bulgaria/Rovel College) at No. 6 singles (6-7, 9-6).

“I am very proud of the way the men played today,” said Tobin. “Pulling the second seed in the first round took the pressure off and allowed us to play up.”

With Saturday's consolation matches being canceled due to inclement weather, the Red Flash finish their season at 5-17 with a 3-1 NEC mark.