BOX SCORE

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (April 1, 2011) – The Saint Francis University men's tennis charged out to an early lead and hung on to win a, 4-3, nail-biter against Northeast Conference for St. Francis College on Friday at Robert Morris University's North Athletic Complex.

Elahn Pogue (St. Catherines, Ontario/West Park) – who had seen limited action for the past month due to injury – engineered a key singles victory at the No. 1 spot (4-6, 7-5, 6-0) and also played a major role in SFU's No. 1 doubles win. He teamed with Nathaniel Fleming to overtake the Terriers' Tita Mba and Danlahdi Robinson, 9-7.

Youlian Natchev (Sofia, Bulgaria/Rovel College) and Kirby Mendes (Unionville, Ontario/Niagara Academy of Tennis) teamed up to take No. 2 doubles, 8-5, while Stephen Kowalski (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) and Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) were 8-2 victors in the No. 3 spot.

“This was an amazing win for the men,” said head coach Paul Tobin. “Coming down to the wire with Pogue pulling out a third-setter, 6-0, after splitting sets with a determined opponent. It feels good picking up the doubles point and not having to work as hard in singles to secure the win.”

Like Pogue, Rosa also needed three sets to earn the win at No. 2 singles, defeating St. Francis (N.Y.)'s James Brennan-Tsang, 6-1, 4-6, 6-0.

The Terrier answered with a critical win at the No. 3 spot but Kowalski clinched the match with a huge 6-1, 6-2 victory to seal the result in favor of the Red Flash.

“Some great scores from Kowalkski and Rosa who have been consistent in there positions,” said Tobin. “They both are peaking now and feel strong going onto Saturday and Sunday's matches against Wagner and Robert Morris.”

“The non-conference lineup I chose was to prepare my men for these conference matches. The weather conditions were tough so I didn't expect my players to play there best. This win puts us 2-0 in-conference and hopefully we can keep the momentum going for the next two weeks leading up to NEC Championships.”