LEWISBURG, Pa. (Sep. 26, 2014) – The Saint Francis U men's tennis team competed in the Bucknell Invitational this past weekend, with several individuals posting solid outings.
 
Lawson Barter (Chicago, Ill./Loyola) and Plamen Avuski (Plovdiv, Bulgaria /Math High School ) made some noise for the Red Flash. Posting a 2-1 singles mark, Barter took the win for Saint Francis in the C Flight Singles backdraw. He then teamed up with Avuski to post three straight victories en route to winning the B Flight Doubles bracket.
 
Chris Jimenez (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Preparatory) also chalked up a 2-1 mark in singles action to earn an overall win in the A Flight backdraw competition. Sergio Carvajal (Nueva Esparta, Venezuela/U.E. Fray Elias Maria Sendra) followed suit in the B Flight backdraw tournament.
 
According to SFU coach Rob Castille, while there is progress being made, there is still room for improvement.
 
"I feel like we made steps in the right direction from our last invite but I still am not pleased with where we are and I know the guys feel the same way," said Castille. "With the new no-ad format, we need to be more mentally tough and we need to make smarter decisions on those critical points. We will definitely work hard on correcting these things as well as a few other areas that need improvement before our next invite."
 
The men will compete next at the Toledo Invitational in Toledo, Ohio from Oct. 10-14.
 
DOUBLES
 
A Flight Doubles
CARVAJAL/JIMENEZ (SFU) def. PAUL-JONES, Jean/WILIIAMS, Steve 8-1
PINKARD, Brian/LAZAR, Jake (Lafayette) def. GERVAIS/PARDO (SFU) 8-6
GOLDSTEIN, Brandon/STEFANOWICZ, Brian (Lafayette) def. CARVAJAL/JIMENEZ (SFU) 8-7
MACHADO, Tito/DISANTO, Brian (Bloom) def. GERVAIS/PARDO (SFU) 8-4
 
B Flight Doubles
AVUSKI/BARTER (SFU) def. KIM, Chris/COHEN, Alec (Lafayette) 8-5
AVUSKI/BARTER (SFU) def. MATTURI, Chris/ALEXANDER, Evan (Lafayette) 8-1
AVUSKI/BARTER (SFU) def. SZAMOSSZEGI, Will/ERSKINE, Timber (Bucknell) 8-4
 
SINGLES
 
A Flight Singles
GERVAIS (SFU) def. PAUL-JONES, Jean (Bloom) 6-2, 6-1
KANE, Max (Bucknell) def. JIMENEZ (SFU) 1-6, 6-3, (10-7)
WRIGHT, Dan (Bucknell) def GERVAIS (SFU) 6-4, 6-3
JIMENEZ (SFU) def. MACHADO, Tito (Bloom) 6-2, 6-0
JIMENEZ (SFU) def. STEFANOWICZ, Brian (Lafayette) 6-0, 7-6
 
B Flight Singles
GERBER, Ben (Bucknell) def. CERDAN (SFU) 7-6, 6-3
PINKARD, Brian (Lafayette) def. CARVAJAL (SFU) 3-6, 6-1, (10-8)
CERDAN (SFU) def. DISANTO, Brian (Bloom) 3-6, 6-4, (10-2)
CARVAJAL (SFU) def. LANGENBACH, Scott (Bloom) 6-4, 6-4
CARVAJAL (SFU) def. CERDAN (SFU) 6-3, 4-6, (10-4)
 
C Flight Singles
ADAMS, Bryan (Bucknell) def. BARTER (SFU) 6-2, 6-2
AVUSKI (SFU) def. KEEL, Mason (Lafayette) 6-3, 6-4
BARTER (SFU) def. IKERIJI, Denis (Bloom) 6-0, 6-1
SZAMOSSZEGI, Will (Bucknell) def. AVUSKI (SFU) 7-5, 7-5
BARTER (SFU) def. MICAH, Nenyi (Bloom) 6-3, 6-2                                 
 
D Flight Singles
ALEXANDER, Evan (Lafayette) def. PARDO (SFU) 6-2, 5-7, (10-5)
PARDO (SFU) def. KIM, Chris (Lafayette) 6-0, 6-1
STUDNER, Gavin (Lafayette) def. PARDO (SFU) 5-7, 3-1, ret.