ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 19, 2013) – The Saint Francis women's tennis team fought hard, but couldn't overcome an experienced Navy, falling 7-0. With all returning players in the Navy lineup, SFU brought in three freshman players to fill lineup positions. The remaining SFU players were sophomores.

Playing at the Navy Shipyard, SFU came out strong in doubles picking up the win at no. 2 doubles. Sophomore Alex Sachs (Parkland, Fla./Stoneman Douglas) and Shivani Patel (Leicestershire, England/Repton School) pulled off an 8-2 upset over Senior and no. 1 Navy player Emani Decquir and freshman Sam Droop.

The SFU no. 3 doubles team of Danielle Gryckiewicz (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Academy) and Camila Diaz (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio La Piedad) already up 6-4, on serve and at 40-30, blew the lead and the game to Navy's Darien Sears and Logan Antill. The Navy women held to tie at 6-6, but by this point SFU had lost its edge and was downed 8-6.

Rafaela Panizza (Jundiai, Brazil/) and Lucy Jasso (San Luis Potosi, Mexico/Instituto Potosino) took the early lead up 4-2 and on serve, but with each team holding serve, SFU failed to break and lost a tight 8-6 after being broken in the final game.

“It was a big disappointment to lose the doubles point,” said coach Paul Tobin.  “We already took the match at no. 2 doubles and Gryckiewicz was up 40-30 on serve to take a nice 7-4 lead. They would have easily been able to convert one more game to give us the point. I think the momentum would have shifted on our favor for singles.”

In singles action Panizza playing at no. 1, managed to split sets against senior Emani Decquir. After losing the first set 6-3, Panizza came back and broke twice to take the second set 6-2. The more experienced Decquir got an early jump in the tiebreaker breaking Panizza twice. Panizza came back to tie at 3-3 but it was downhill from that point losing five points to end the match at 10-4.

At no. 5 singles Gryckiewicz competed hard fighting back two match points and down a break. Down 4-3 in the second, Gryckiwicz broke Droop to tie at 4-4. Up 40-30 and on serve, the Navy freshman hit two solid return winners to go up 5-4. Unable to hold, Gryckiewicz lost 6-4.

“This match should have been a 5-2 loss,” said Tobin. “We had the opportunity to close out two points in doubles and singles but fell short. Taking nothing away from Navy, we could have made this competition much closer. We are a very young team and I only see us getting better.”