EBENSBURG, Pa. (March 18, 2013) – The Saint Francis U men's tennis team tried to repeat another back-to-back win weekend, but came up short at a determined and much-improved Coppin State on Friday.  SFU quickly bounced back pulling off a win against Northeast Conference foe St. Francis Brooklyn.

The Red Flash men had difficulty adapting to the cold windy conditions during its match against Coppin State in Baltimore Friday afternoon. Despite being down a player, and forced to concede positions, the Red Flash found itself up against a wall when key opportunities fell.

Already having to concede third doubles, Saint Francis had to secure the doubles point at the nos. 1 and 2 positions. After securing the win easily at the no. 2 position, Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) and Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) at no. 1 had the match secured but fumbled hard while up 7-6 and on serve. Carvajal unable to put a first serve in allowed the Eagles team to tie things up at 7-7. Once again, SFU had a commanding lead at 6-2; with only two points from the win allowing Coppin State to come back seven points in a row closing out the match 8-6.

“I knew we had to take the doubles point to win the venue,” said Frankies' coach Paul Tobin.  “How we let this opportunity slip in the tiebreaker is very concerning to me. This was the turning point in the match and put us in a shaky position going into singles.”

Going into singles action, the Red Flash men were already down two points having to concede sixth singles. SFU needed to sweep all four singles to secure the match win.

Gervais, at no. 1, found himself quickly down and out in the first set but fought back closing out the second. Up 5-2 in the third, Gervais allowed a break dropping the lead to 5-4. At 40-15, Gervais held securing SFU's first point.

The Red Flash men secured points at nos. 3 and 5 managing to tie things up at 3-3; With the deciding match at no. 4, Juan Pardo (Bogota, Colombia/Colegio Andino) failed to close things out, losing 6-4 in the third giving the Eagles their fourth point.

“This was a most disappointing loss," said Tobin. “I have to give much credit to Coppin State players.
We underestimated them in certain positions and their ability to use the adverse weather conditions to their advantage. Our players are still not used to playing outside weather, especially the wind.”

The Red Flash then welcomed St. Francis to the Ebensburg Tennis Center and this time had no problem dominating and sweeping the four points. 

Coming out very strong in doubles, SFU took the doubles point and swept all positions. Needing only three points to secure the win, Red Flash came through in all spots.

Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad), at no. 2 for Red Flash, ran into trouble in his the second set.  After winning the first set easily he quickly found himself down two breaks in the second. Unable to dig himself out, Rosa was downed 7-5. Rosa quickly returned to action breaking the Terriers and holding to take a 2-0 lead. From there it was easy sailing as Rosa closed the set and match 6-3.

Carvajal, no. 3 for the Red Flash had a similar scenario. After easily taking the first set 6-2, Carvajal struggled to stay on top of serving opportunities once he was broken at 4-4. Unable to break St. Francis, Carvajal dropped the set 7-5. The third set proved too much for the Terriers as Carvajal broke early to command a 3-0 lead. Cruising to close the set, Carvajal gave up only one game.

“We needed this win to secure our seeding position going into conference championships next month,” said Tobin. “After Saturday's terrible loss I was a bit concerned about their confidence level but they pulled it out.”