WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team saw its winning streak come to an end on Saturday as the Hawks fell to Bucknell on the road, 5-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED
•
Eshan Kanetkar and
Nathan Perrone earned a win in the first doubles flight, but the Bison claimed the second and third flights to win the early point.
• In singles play,
Nickolas Frisk won his third-flight matchup, 6-2, 6-1, before
Francesco Mowrey claimed a win by the same score in the second to give the Hawks the lead.
• Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, Bucknell won three-setters in the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth flights to claim the overall match victory.
HAWK TALK
"It was not our best match at all; we looked vulnerable out there and they definitely took advantage of that," assistant coach
Marc Pibernat said. "The team was for sure on the right track before today's match; however, the way we performed against Bucknell made us backtrack and lose the good momentum we had built. It is up to the guys, each one of them, to bring what they need to bring in order to be competitive in our next match vs. Duquesne.
"That grit and will and wanting to win is not under the coaches' control; it is completely under the players' control, and that's where we are coming up short every match in at least one or two positions, which is way too much and too often. I keep telling the team over and over that unless all three doubles and all six singles are going out there ready to give everything they have, we will always be an average team, and that's just not good enough to beat the teams we have been chasing to beat. I am disappointed with my players overall today and it's in their hands to turn around today's performance in our next practice and in our next match."
UP NEXT
The Hawks will have nine days off before visiting Duquesne on March 10.
RESULTS
Bucknell 5, Saint Joseph's 2
Doubles
1.
Eshan Kanetkar /
Nathan Perrone (SJU) def. Cooper Bradshaw / Michael Owen (BU), 6-2
2. Marwan Abaza / Ryan Jurist (BU) def.
Nickolas Frisk /
Luis Janko (SJU), 6-4
3. Chunyu Chen / Guillermo Torres (BU) def.
Alex MacNeil /
Francesco Mowrey (SJU), 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. Abaza (BU) def. Perrone (SJU), 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
2. Mowrey (SJU) def. Owen (BU), 6-2, 6-1
3. Frisk (SJU) def. Bradshaw (BU), 6-2, 6-1
4. Jurist (BU) def. Kanetkar (SJU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
5. Torres (BU) def. Janko (SJU), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 6-2
6. Sam Yildirimlar (BU) def. MacNeil (SJU), 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1, 4, 6, 5
Game Scores
Singles: Bucknell 76, Saint Joseph's 74
Doubles: Saint Joseph's 14, Bucknell 14
Total: Bucknell 90, Saint Joseph's 88
