MERION STATION, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team dug deep and pulled out a 4-3 win over Bucknell at the SJU Tennis Complex on Saturday afternoon.  Sam Sauter came back from a set down to win his sixth-flight match and lock up the team victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Saint Joseph's (4-0) grabbed the early lead with two doubles victories.  Alex MacNeil and Johnnie Massart secured the point with a 7-6 (3) win in the third flight.

• Nathan Perrone got the Hawks a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-1 win in the first singles flight, but Bucknell (1-3) drew level with wins in the third and fourth.

• Nickolas Frisk put the Hawks ahead once again as he secured his second-flight match, 6-1, 6-3, but the Bison nabbed a win in the fifth to tie the match at 3-all.

• In the sixth flight, Sauter dropped the first set to Sam Yildirimlar, but battled back to win the match, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and clinch the team triumph for the Hawks.

HAWK TALK
"Congratulations to the team for a solid win today against Bucknell," assistant coach Marc Pibernat said.  "Even though I was not pleased with all the singles matches in terms of energy and everything a player can try to do to win a match; in a couple of singles matches we came up short on that aspect.  However, as a team this victory is definitely one we value a lot, especially after losing to Bucknell the last couple of years, and it will boost the team's confidence moving forward when we are going to have to face this kind of tough competition.

"Nate and Nicko put on a massive performance by dominating all the aspects of their matches at first and second singles.  All the credit today goes to our head coach, Ian Crookenden, who coached and guided Sam Sauter to his singles win to clinch the match and give the Hawks the victory."

UP NEXT
The Hawks are set to host NJIT on Tuesday.

RESULTS

Saint Joseph's 4, Bucknell 3

Doubles
1. Cooper Bradshaw / Michael Owen (BU) def. Eshan Kanetkar / Nathan Perrone (SJU), 7-5
2. Nickolas Frisk / Francesco Mowrey (SJU) def. Nick Mueller / Sam Yildirimlar (BU), 6-2
3. Alex MacNeil / Johnnie Massart (SJU) def. Per Astrom / Guillermo Torres (BU), 7-6 (3)
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles
1. Perrone (SJU) def. Marwan Abaza (BU), 6-1, 6-1
2. Frisk (SJU) def. Owen (BU), 6-1, 6-3
3. Bradshaw (BU) def. Mowrey (SJU), 6-3, 6-2
4. Mueller (BU) def. Kanetkar (SJU), 6-2, 6-1
5. Torres (BU) def. Massart (SJU), 6-3, 6-3
6. Sam Sauter (SJU) def. Yildirimlar (BU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, 6

Game Scores
Singles: Saint Joseph's 54, Bucknell 53
Doubles: Saint Joseph's 18, Bucknell 15
Total: Saint Joseph's 72, Bucknell 68