MERION STATION, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team suffered its first defeat of 2021 on Tuesday, falling to NJIT, 5-2, at the SJU Tennis Complex.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• NJIT (6-1) grabbed the early advantage through the doubles point, claiming the first and second flights.  Alex MacNeil and Johnnie Massart were 6-4 winners in the third.

• Nathan Perrone drew Saint Joseph's (4-1) level with a 6-1, 6-2 win in the first singles flight, but the Highlanders nabbed a win in the sixth flight to go ahead once more.

• A 6-1, 7-5 result in the second flight for Nickolas Frisk tied things up once again, but the visitors finished off the win with victories in the remaining three singles flights.

HAWK TALK
"We played a tough team with lots of energy and we came short on those two aspects at some positions in the lineup," assistant coach Marc Pibernat said. "In first and second doubles we paid a very high price in a crucial moment with a one-point penalty in each match, which totally stopped our momentum.  Once again in singles Nate and Nicko played at a very high level of tennis and put in dominating performances once again. We need to get better and tougher as a team especially in the middle and back of the lineup where we are struggling to find wins because that's where most of the matches will be decided when we face good teams."

UP NEXT
The Hawks will play their first road match of the season on Thursday afternoon at Rider.

RESULTS

NJIT 5, Saint Joseph's 2

Doubles
1. Josh Smith / Samuel Townes (NJIT) def. Nathan Perrone / Eshan Kanetkar (SJU), 7-5
2. Amine El Kholti / Abdullah Fouad (NJIT) def. Nickolas Frisk / Francesco Mowrey (SJU), 6-4
3. Johnnie Massart / Alex MacNeil (SJU) def. Ashwin Kanetkar / Ammar Fekry (NJIT), 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles
1. Perrone (SJU) def. Fouad (NJIT), 6-1, 6-2
2. Frisk (SJU) def. Smith (NJIT), 6-1, 7-5
3. El Kholti (NJIT) def.  Mowrey (SJU), 0-6, 6-4, 6-2
4. Townes (NJIT) def. E. Kanetkar (SJU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
5. A. Kanetkar (NJIT) def. Massart (SJU), 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
6. Fekry (NJIT) def. Sam Sauter (SJU), 6-1, 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 6, 2, 5, 3, 4

Game Scores
Singles: NJIT 64, Saint Joseph's 63
Doubles: NJIT 17, Saint Joseph's 15
Total: NJIT 81, Saint Joseph's 78