MONROEVILLE, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's tennis team fell, 6-1, against Carnegie Mellon on Saturday at The Club Sport and Health in Monroeville.  The Red Flash picked up one singles win on the day.  However, the Tartans, ranked 11th in the ITA Division III Poll, were too much at the other positions.  SFU dropped to 5-2 this spring.  Carnegie Mellon is now 4-1.
 
The Red Flash lost the doubles point for just the second time in seven matches.
 
Sophomore Alec Dylan Foo-Kune (Phoenix, Mauritius/International Connections Academy (Md.)) and senior Washi Gervais (Longueuil, Quebec/College Stanislas) competed at the top doubles spot against Vayum Arora and Daniel Levine.  In a tough battle, the CMU pair won 7-6, including 7-2 in the tiebreaker.  Foo-Kune and Gervais are now 5-2 this spring.
 
At No. 2, junior Rodrigo Tico (Guadalajara, Mexico/Colegio de Bachilleres) and freshman Robin van der Heijden (Burgh Haamstede, Netherlands/Scheldmond College) paired up against the Tartans' Jeffrey Chen and Kenny Zheng.  However, the SFU duo fell 6-3.
 
In the matchup at No. 3, junior Plamen Avuski (Plovdiv, Bulgaria /Math High School ) and freshman Jan Vit Suntar (Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia/Gimnazija Kranj) took on Abhishek Alla and Yuvraj Kumar.  The Red Flash pair dropped a 6-4 decision and is now 5-2 in dual matches.
 
Gervais competed at the top singles spot against CMU's Alla.  The SFU senior dropped a tough first set, 7-6(6), but bounced back to win the second set, 6-4.  In the deciding set, Gervais came out on top, 6-4, to remain undefeated this spring at 7-0.
 
Matching up at No. 2 were Foo-Kune and Levine.  The SFU sophomore fell 6-1, 7-5 to drop to 4-3 this spring.
 
At the third singles position, Suntar battled against the Tartans' Zheng.  After being downed 6-4 in the opening set, Suntar bounced back to win the next set, 7-5.  However, Zheng came out on top in a tough final set, 7-6(3).  Suntar is 5-2 in dual match action.
 
Tico faced CMU's Arora at the fourth spot.  After dropping a 6-4 first set, Tico responded by winning the second set, 7-5.  In the deciding set, Arora came out with a 6-3 win. 
 
At No. 5, Avuski competed against Kunal Wadwani.  However, Avuski fell 6-0, 7-6(5) for his first loss of the spring. 
 
Junior Eli Cerdan (Bloomfield, N.J. /Saint Mary High School) took on Tommy Cheng at No. 6.  Cerdan dropped a 6-2, 6-3 decision.

"This was a really well-played match," said Head Coach Rob Castille. "Carnegie Mellon is a well-coached team and one of the top teams in D3. I thought we competed pretty well and can take a lot of positives away from this and learn from some of our mistakes. I still think some of the guys need to learn to win then they aren't playing their best. And I want to see better results from us at the bottom of the lineup. We will address this and work on some things in practice that we will hopefully apply to our matches next weekend against Bucknell and Temple."
 
The Red Flash meets Bucknell next Friday, February 20, for a 3 p.m. match at The Club Sport and Health.  On Saturday, SFU hosts Temple for a 10 p.m. match at the Greensburg Racquet Club.
 
Doubles:
1. Arora/Levine(CMU) def. Foo-Kune/Gervais(SFU), 7-6(2).
2. Chen/Zheng(CMU) def. Tico/van der Heijden(SFU), 6-3.
3. Alla/Kumar(CMU) def. Avuski/Suntar(SFU), 6-4.
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
 
Singles:
1. Gervais(SFU) def. Alla(CMU), 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4.
2. Levine(CMU) def. Foo-Kune(SFU), 6-1, 7-5.
3. Zheng(CMU) def. Suntar(SFU), 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3).
4. Arora(CMU) def. Tico(SFU), 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
5. Wadwani(CMU) def. Avuski(SFU), 6-0, 7-6(5).
6. Cheng(CMU) def. Cerdan(SFU), 6-2, 6-3.
Order of Finish: 2,5,3,1,4,6