Flash Points:

• SFU Men's Tennis topped Duquesne, 4-3, on Sunday at the Alpha Tennis and Fitness Club.
• The match came down to the final set before senior Eli Cerdan (Bloomfield, N.J. /Saint Mary High School) clinched the match point.
• The Dukes swept the doubles action, but the Red Flash answered by winning four singles matches.
• The Red Flash won its seventh straight match and improved to 13-3 overall.
• SFU finishes the regular season next weekend at Bucknell and Saint Joseph's.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – In a match that came down to the last set, the Saint Francis Men's Tennis team edged Duquesne, 4-3, on Sunday at the Alpha Tennis and Fitness Club.  The Dukes swept the doubles matches, but the Red Flash responded by winning four singles matches, getting a big boost from the middle of its lineup.  Saint Francis improved its program-best start to 13-3 and won its seventh straight match, while Duquesne fell to 6-12.
 
"It was a great college tennis match today," said Head Coach Rob Castille. "It was exactly what we wanted in our lead up to the conference tournament, with only three weeks until the tournament."
 
At the top doubles spot, junior Alec Dylan Foo-Kune (Phoenix, Mauritius/International Connections Academy (Md.)) and freshman Franz Luna (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Laurel Springs) matched up against Duquesne's Adam Blasinsky and Chris Corrao.  The Red Flash duo fell 6-2 and is now 4-1 this Spring.
 
Freshman Arturo Dell'eva (Verona, Italy/Sanchez Casal Tennis Academy) and sophomore Jan Vit Suntar (Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia/Gimnazija Kranj) competed against the Dukes' Jared Isaacs and Tim Kane at No. 2.  The SFU pair dropped a 6-3 decision to move to 6-3 in dual matches.
 
In the match at No. 3, seniors Plamen Avuski (Plovdiv, Bulgaria /Math High School ) and Eli Cerdan (Bloomfield, N.J. /Saint Mary High School) met DU's Drew Akins and Andrew Ong.  Suffering a 6-0 setback, Avuski and Cerdan lost for the first time this Spring, falling to 9-1.
 
"I thought we came out a little flat in doubles and they made us pay for that," said Castille. "I hope we can learn from that and realize that good teams will make us pay if we're not ready to play from the very first point."
 
Luna took on Duquesne's Blasinsky at No. 2.  After falling 6-2 in the first set, Luna responded by winning the next set, 6-3.  In the deciding set, Luna came out on top, 6-4.  Luna improved to 13-2 this Spring.
 
Dell'eva matched up against the Dukes' Kane at No. 3.  The Red Flash rookie claimed the first set, 6-3.  In a tight second set, Dell'eva earned a 7-6 win, including a 7-4 tiebreaker victory.  Dell'eva moved to 10-2 in dual matches.
 
In the match at No. 4, Avuski faced DU's Akins.  The SFU senior took the first set, 6-4.  He completed the straight set victory with a 6-2 win in the next set.  Avuski is now 11-3 this season.
 
With the overall match score tied at 3-3, it all came down to the matchup at No. 6 between Cerdan and Duquesne's Ong.  The Saint Francis senior won a tight first set, 7-5.  However, Ong answered by winning a 7-5 set of his own.  Cerdan jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the final set before Ong retired from the match.  Cerdan clinched the match point and improved to 9-3 this Spring.
 
Foo-Kune took on the Dukes' Dimitris Stavropoulos at the top singles spot.  The SFU senior fell 6-1, 6-2 and is now 11-5 in dual matches.
 
Suntar matched up against Duquesne's Isaacs at No. 5.  The Saint Francis sophomore dropped a 6-4, 6-4 result and moved to 12-2 this season.
 
"I was really proud of the way we fought in singles," said Castille. "We played extremely hard and came up clutch in some big moments of the match. This is a great win to have at this point of the season and I think we'll take a ton of confidence from it."
 
The Red Flash finishes the regular season next week with matches against two in-state rivals.  SFU visits Bucknell on Friday, April 7 for a 3 p.m. match and Saint Joseph's on Saturday, April 8 for a 2 p.m. contest.
 
Doubles:
1. Blasinsky/Corrao(DUQ) def. Foo-Kune/Luna(SFU), 6-2
2. Isaacs/Kane(DUQ) def. Dell'eva/Suntar(SFU), 6-3
3. Akins/Ong(DUQ) def. Avuski/Cerdan(SFU), 6-0
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
 
Singles:
1. Stavropoulos(DUQ) def. Foo-Kune(SFU), 6-1, 6-2
2. Luna(SFU) def. Blasinsky(DUQ), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. Dell'eva(SFU) def. Kane(DUQ), 6-3, 7-6(4)
4. Avuski(SFU) def. Akins(DUQ), 6-4, 6-2
5. Isaacs(DUQ) def. Suntar(SFU), 6-4, 6-4
6. Cerdan(SFU) def. Ong(DUQ), 7-5, 5-7, 3-0(retired)
Order of Finish: 1,3,2,4,5,6