ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (Jan. 27, 2013) – The Saint Francis University men's tennis team found itself in a hole Sunday when it struggled to bring healthy players in the lineup. Forcing to give up a doubles position and a forfeit in singles, the Red Flash team gave what it could to an experienced Saint Bonaventure team before falling, 4-2.

The Bonnies came out and took the doubles point, but not without a fight. The SFU team of Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) and Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas), up 5-0, let junior Elliot Fanshel and junior Javier Ortiz come back through two breaks to bring it to 6-5. Unable to hold again, Saint Francis found itself 7-7 and going onto the tiebreaker. Unable to hold at 3-3 and 4-4, Red Flash went down 7-5. 

“The only good thing that came out of this was we now found a team in Sergio and Washi, they work very well with each other and have great energy,” said Flash coach Paul Tobin. “With Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) sitting out of doubles to rest his injury, we knew it was going to be hard to secure the doubles point.”

The Bonnies were able to secure another point when Jimenez, playing no. 4 for SFU, was forced to retire again, up 3-2 to Junior Javier Ortiz. Gervais played some of the best tennis in his career with an impressive win off an experienced Bonnies senior Oscar Yanez 6-3, 7-6. Gervais was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set when he got broken to tie at 5-5. Gervais fought back to close the set 7-6.

SFU senior Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad), in the no. 1 spot, had several opportunities to take the first set against Fanshel who went 7-5 last year for the Bonnies. Rosa was up 4-3 and on serve failed to hold allowing Fanshel to tie at 4-4. Rosa unable to break quickly went down 5-4. Rosa managed to hold at 5-5, but Fanshel allowed only 4 points to take the next 3 games and set.

SFU's Juan Pardo (Bogota, Colombia/Colegio Andino), competing at no. 6 singles, gave the Red Flash its second point with its win over the Bonnies' Celsa De Vera Rehberger 6-3, 6-2. The Red Flash's Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola), down 6-0 in the first set against the Bonnies' Gabe Cardenas, bounced back in the second set 6-4 after trailing 4-2 in the tiebreaker. Barter failed to convert three serving opportunities to go down in a tight 10-7 in the third.

“I am pretty certain that if we had Jimenez in the line-up, the outcome would have been different,” said Tobin. “Barter was within inches of taking his match. I am happy with how we are developing as a team, just have to ride it out hoping our lineup players are healthy and not sitting out.”