ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 19, 2013) – Playing in its opening match against Navy, the Saint Francis men's tennis team struggled against the 2012 Patriot League Champions. Coach Paul Tobin knew the men had to play their best with all returning Navy players in the lineup. Already coming off a 14-4 record last year, Navy lost to #7 ranked Florida in the NCAA championships.

"Honestly, I didn't expect to beat Navy considering their record and accomplishments," said Tobin of his squad's 7-0 loss. "But I did feel we were capable of pulling off an upset if we played our best. Our players are still young and growing, they are not used to seeing such heavy balls coming at them consistently."

The Red Flash men came out fired up in doubles and had the opportunity to take the doubles point.

Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) and Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) playing at no. 2 doubles had the best opportunity to close out the match. Serving at 6-5, Jimenez failed to convert a 40-15 lead to go up 7-5. Navy held to tie at 6-6; and both teams held serve at 7-7.  The Mids came out strong in the tiebreaker serving up two aces and not allowing SFU to hold serve before going down 10-2.

In other doubles action, no. 3 team of Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) and Juan Pardo (Bogota, Colombia/Colegio Andino), down 4-1, fought back to 4-3. They were unable to hold and quickly found themselves down 6-3. Gervais fighting off two break points pulled out the game to make it 6-4. The fired up Navy team of Austin Jones and Alex Gaines kept the momentum going closing out the match 8-4.

In singles action, Jimenez and Gervais had the best opportunity for an upset but came up short against experienced Navy players.

In the most lopsided match, no. 4 Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) took the first set 6-0 only to lose 6-0, 6-1 to sophomore Blake Daniel. Gervais playing at no. 2 singles held a lead in the first set up 4-3 and on serve. Gervais, up 40-30 to take a 5-3 lead, lost two service points and tied it up at 4-4. This was all sophomore Peter McDonald needed to close out the match 6-4.

"I think some players could have done better holding serve in singles," said Tobin. "This is the one area we have been working on. We did a great job in doubles but, now it's about winning not just competing well. We are way past that point now. We lost our mental edge when we started to get down. Teams like us need to fight for every point. It got a little sloppy out there.”