HAMDEN, Conn. (April 15, 2013) – The Saint Francis U men's tennis team split Northeast Conference decisions over the weekend, besting Wagner, 4-0, and falling to Quinnipiac by the same margin.

The short-handed Red Flash looked like it was on its way to taking the doubles point against third-ranked Quinnipiac. Forced to move up to no. 1 doubles, Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad) and Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola) almost pulled off an upset against the 12-3 team of Fahoum Fahoum and Garrett Lane from Quinnipiac.

Down 4-1 and on serve, Rosa fought back two break points to hold at 4-2. The Red Flash duo then broke back, edging it to 4-3. The Bobcats were not done as they took the next two games. Down 6-3, SFU came back to hold and break Fahoum at 6-5. Barter serving at 30-40 saved break point and closed the game. Tied at 6-6, Bobcats held bringing it to 7-6 and one game away from the match. Rosa, serving for the match and down 40-30 match point, fired a service winner bringing it to deuce. With both sides going back and forth, the Bobcats finally closed the match 8-6.

Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) and Juan Pardo (Bogota, Colombia/Colegio Andino) were back in action as a team; and it took them no time to gain a quick 4-1 lead against Quinnipiac's Sebastian Barbaro and Luke Roser. The Red Flash duo then saw their lead vanish as the Bobcats took the next three games, tying things up at 4-4. Both teams held until 7-6 when Gervais hit a return winner to break at 8-6 and close the match.

With both teams splitting doubles wins, the Frankies were forced to concede at the no. 3 spot giving Quinnipiac the extra match for the doubles point.

“It's not a comfortable position to be in already having to concede points,” said SFU coach Paul Tobin.  “We have been battling this issue since our season started, the players are doing what they can despite the disadvantage. The scores were tight and we took a nice win off a great doubles team.”

Already down two points going into singles, the Bobcats needed only two more wins to secure the victory. Those wins came from Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) and Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola). Andres Rosa (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Colegio la Piedad), up a set was forced to retire when the match was decided. Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) and Juan Pardo (Bogota, Colombia/Colegio Andino) also never got to start their matches.

“I thought we had more opportunity to pick up singles points coming out of a doubles,” said Tobin. “The conditions were perfect for us, the courts were very slow and this allowed our players to stay in rallies longer. Quinnipiac has a rich tennis history and results, we knew what we were up against.”

Next up for SFU was Wagner, which came with a much-improved team from last year. However, it took the Red Flash less than three hours to secure the 4-0 win picking up points in all positions.

The only struggle came from the no. 1 doubles team of Barter and Rosa. Up 4-3 and on serve against Wagner's Christian Grau and Christian Rautenstrauch, SFU got broken and than failed to break trailing 5-4. Barter held but both teams went back and forth until they reached 8-8. In a crucial tiebreaker that would determine the doubles point, both teams held to 6-6 when SFU found a break and served to close out the match.

“I wasn't to concerned about picking up the doubles point,” said Tobin. “Despite being short a player I was confident we would take singles in all four positions.”