FULL RESULTS

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (Feb. 24, 2014) – For the second consecutive weekend, the Saint Francis men's tennis team dropped a tight 4-3 decision, this time to Northeast Conference rival Sacred Heart.

The setback dropped the Red Flash to 3-6 on the season and 1-1 in NEC play.  The Pioneers evened their record at 2-2 and improved to 1-0 against league competition.

"This was a hard-fought, evenly played matched," said Flash coach Rob Castille. "Sacred Heart deserves a lot of credit for digging deep and pulling out this win.

"For us, I thought we came out a little flat in doubles but I was proud of the way we stepped it up in singles.  We had three match points to clinch it so this definitely is a tough one. A match like this can either put a team in a downward tailspin or it can be a great motivator for future matches. I have a good feeling that it's the latter and that this will fire our guys up."

Saint Francis quickly found itself in a 3-0 hole, but rallied to even the team score by stringing together wins in the Nos. 3-5 singles positions.

Freshman Eli Cerdan (Bloomfield, N.J. /Saint Mary High School) posted his fourth straight win in the No. 3 spot, as Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) and Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) picked up points at Nos. 4 and 5 positions, respectively.

The Frankies have the next week off before returning to action against Robert Morris on March 14.




Sacred Heart (2-2) def. Saint Francis (3-6), 4-3

Doubles
1. Matt Dean/Brian Power (SHU) def. Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas)/Rodrigo Tico (Guadalajara, Mexico/Colegio de Bachilleres) (SFU), 8-3
2. Anthony Savio/Luka Bagi (SHU) def. Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory)/Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) (SFU), 8-5
3. Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola)/Kyle Korus (Toronto, Ontario/Niagara Academy) (SFU) led Justin Pagan/John Bogdanovic (SHU), 7-6, DNF

Order of finish: 1, *2
*Clinched doubles point


Singles
1. Brian Power (SHU) def. Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) (SFU), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(6)
2. Justin Pagan (SHU) def. Rodrigo Tico (Guadalajara, Mexico/Colegio de Bachilleres) (SFU), 6-1, 6-4
3. Eli Cerdan (Bloomfield, N.J. /Saint Mary High School) (SFU) def. Matt Dean (SHU), 7-6(2), 6-2
4. Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) (SFU) def. Kevin Budrawich (SHU), 6-4, 6-0
5. Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) (SFU) def. Luka Bagi (SHU), 7-5, 6-1
6. Anthony Savio (SHU) def. Kyle Korus (Toronto, Ontario/Niagara Academy) (SFU), 6-4, 6-3

Order of finish: 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, *6
*Clinched the match-winning 4th point