HARTFORD, Conn. (March 10, 2013) – Short one player, the Saint Francis University men's tennis team took a pair of wins over University of Hartford and Rider University this weekend by scores of 6-1 and 5-2, respectively. 

Friday at the Hartford Racquet Club, SFU took the doubles point and swept singles at the nos. 1 through 4 positions.

The Red Flash no. 1 doubles team of Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) and Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) held serve throughout the match taking down Hartford Jordan Badenko and Nick Sharwarko, 8-5.

Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) and Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola) at no. 2 doubles for Saint Francis was up 3-1 and on serve against Hartford's Mario Neves and Josh Isaacson but failed to hold. Unable to hold again, Rosa and Barter found themselves tied at 3-3. Down 40-15 and on serve, Rosa blasted first serves to take the game and the lead. It was no looking back for the Red Flash duo as it held to close out the match, 8-5.

“I thought we could have performed better in doubles,” said coach Paul Tobin. “I am happy we won, but we still struggle with key doubles tactics and execution.”

In singles action, no. 1 Gervais continued his winning ways by easily downing Hartford's Jordan Badenko, 6-2, 6-2, without losing serve throughout the whole match.

Rosa, at no. 2, pulled out a comeback win against Mario Neves, 6-7, 6-4, 10-7.  Up 5-2 in the first, Rosa gave up three games tying things up at 5-5. The SFU entry managed to hold at 6-5, but Neves pulled out his service game and the set. Rosa fought back in the second set with an early break and never lost serve to close it out. In an exciting third set tiebreaker, Rosa, at 6-6, turned things around and rolled the next three points to close the set and match.

Barter moving up to no. 5 was down 4-2 in the first set against Luis Montes when he broke back and won the next three games to take the first set 6-4. Down 2-0 in the second, Barter held and broke to lead 3-2. After another break, Barter won the next three games to clinch the win for Red Flash.

“This was one of those necessary wins for the team,” said Tobin. “Hartford has gotten much better and they pushed us in certain positions. We still have much work to do if we're going to take wins from Robert Morris and Mount St. Mary's next weekend.”

Next stop for the Red Flash Men was Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. This was the start of the outdoor season and SFU came away with the easy win.

The doubles point was secured easily as no. 1 doubles Gervais and Carvajal downed Rider's Dean Laverty and Ryan Carpenter 8-1. Rosa and Barter at no. 2, also had no problem closing out an 8-3 win over Riders Steve Brand and Matt  Martino.

“Good day for doubles,” said Tobin.

In singles action, the Red Flash secured three points in a row to secure the win. The only upset came from  Gervais who suffered a rare loss against Rollie Malfitano. Unable to handle the slow court conditions, Gervais up 6-5 in the first dropped key points to go down 7-5. It was downhill from there as Malfitano kept the momentum going in the second to close out the set and match.

“This was the first time the men played outdoors and it was as expected,” said Tobin. “Not great tennis, but we got the win and a giant wake up call going into conference matches next weekend.”