FLUSHING, N.Y. (Sept. 24, 2012) – The Saint Francis men's tennis team held its own against some elite competition on Sept. 22 and 23, racking up 15 wins and six third set tiebreakers, which could have gone either way.  The field included Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard as well as Northeast Conference teams Sacred Heart and Fairleigh Dickinson.

“It seems all the hard work paid off this weekend and I am very proud of what the men were able to do out there,” said third-year head coach Paul Tobin.  “I came into this tournament somewhat reserved, with three freshman in line-up positions and the rest of them sophomores.  I had no idea how they would hold up against the 16 best schools in the northeast.”

Just two weeks removed from the U.S. Open finals, the grounds were in the process of being cleaned from the grand slam event.  All of the Saint Francis freshmen had never been to the U.S. Open, let alone played on its sacred courts.

“I was still concerned about doubles line-ups,” said Tobin.  “I was not happy with the doubles line-up at the Bucknell Invitational and wanted to mix things up a bit. I knew this was going to be difficult for the players since we did not practice these pairing before.”

Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) and Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory), who teamed up last year at no. 2 doubles had a great run, beating the no. 1 team from Morgan State in the first round, 8-5. In the second round they lost a tight 8-6 to Saint John's duo which ranks 62nd in the nation. Carvajal and Jimenez got out to an early lead, but got broken at 6-6 and were unable close out the match.

“It was the best I have seen them play,” Tobin recalled.

Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola) and Juan Pardo (Bogota, Colombia/Colegio Andino) also picked up a good, 8-6, win in the first round against a strong no. 3 doubles team from Fairfield.  In the second round, they held on for most of the match, losing a tight, 8-6, to Princeton's no. 3 doubles team.

Other notable matches came from freshman Stefan Groot (Alphen aan den Rijn, South Holland/Scala College) and Kevin Pijper (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Amstelpark Tennis Academy) who, in their first-ever pairing, lost 8-6 to the Sacred Heart no. 3 team.

“[Singles play] started off slow, with he men having a difficult time in the front draw,” said Tobin.  “Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) and Chris were placed in higher flights forcing them to play against the no. 2 and no. 3 player on some pretty tough teams.”

However, all of the SFU freshmen picked up back draw wins with Carvajal, Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas), Groot and Pijper qualifying for the finals.  It was Pijper and Carvajal that won the title against their own teammates.

Freshman Kevin Pijper (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Amstelpark Tennis Academy) fought hard against Army freshman David Proctor, losing 6-3, 5-7 (10-2).  Pijper went on to beat Sacred Heart freshman Brian Power easily 6-2, 6-3 and then Columbia no. 6 and no. 7 player, 6-0, 7-6.

Gervais played a tight match against senior and no. 5 player Billy Bishop from Marist, losing 10-7 in the third-set tiebreaker. Bishop was a MAAC all-conference player for Marist picking up 15 wins in 2011-2012.  Gervais went on to beat Sacred Heart's John Lopresti and St. Peter's Charlie Carrera to reach the finals.

Groot also had a tight first round match losing, 10-8, in the third-set tiebreaker to Sacred Heart freshman Matt Dean. Taking the first set 6-2, and up 4-1 in the second, he was not able to close out the match. Groot came back in the next round beating Sacred Heart's Luka Bagi in another close third-set tiebreaker.