MERION STATION, Pa. – A strong doubles performance and an outstanding effort on the singles side led the Saint Joseph's men's tennis team to a dominant 6-1 win over Richmond at the SJU Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon.  The win, SJU's fifth in a row, is the first for the Hawks over the Spiders in 13 years.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Nickolas Frisk and Nathan Perrone made quick work of their first-flight doubles match with a 6-2 win before the visitors claimed a win in the second flight.  Nassim Fenjiro and Alex MacNeil secured the doubles point, however, with a 7-5 win in the third flight.
 
• Frisk and Perrone got things going on the singles side of the ledger as well, with Frisk rolling past his second-flight opponent and Perrone dismissing his foe in the top flight, both in straight sets.
 
• After the Spiders got on the board in the fourth flight, Justus Agbo and Alp Sentay put the Hawks over the top with straight-sets victories in the sixth and third flights, respectively.  Fenjiro would add a win in the fifth flight to finish off an impressive afternoon.
 
HAWK TALK
"Last Friday the boys recorded one of the best wins in the history of the program against Southern Miss; they decided to take it a step further today," head coach Marc Pibernat said.  "We just beat an amazingly-coached Richmond team.  This is a team that is coming off back-to-back Atlantic 10 Championship final appearances the past two years.
 
"There are many guys to shout out today because it was an overall great performance for all the guys on the team, but a special shoutout to Alex and Nassim for coming back from 5-3 down to clinch the doubles point in the third doubles spot. This changed the whole energy of the match heading into singles.  Then Nicko dominated singles in two comfortable sets at the number-two spot, and Nate soon followed with a hard-fought two-set victory in the number-one position to put the Hawks up 3-0.  Justus and Alp, finishing almost at the same time, clinched the match together, both in straight sets to clinch the match. Nassim then finished off the day in brilliant fashion extending his undefeated streak to 8-0 in singles play on the season.
 
"It was an amazing day.  We have not beaten Richmond since 2009.  This was a perfect way to open up the A-10 season against one of the top teams in the conference.  There's not much else to say other than how proud I am of this team and what they went out and did today.  We look forward to bringing the same confidence and energy into a huge match against Drexel on Wednesday."
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks will host Drexel at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
 
RESULTS
 
Saint Joseph's 6, Richmond 1
 
Doubles
1. Nickolas Frisk / Nathan Perrone (SJU) def. Josh Keitelman / Daniel Kliebhan (UR), 6-2
2. Campbell Erwin / John Walsh (UR) def. Justus Agbo / Alp Sentay (SJU), 6-3
3. Nassim Fenjiro / Alex MacNeil (SJU) def. Ricky Bell / Alaister Burke (UR), 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
 
Singles
1. Perrone (SJU) def. Kliebhan (UR), 6-0, 7-5
2. Frisk (SJU) def. Walsh (UR), 6-4, 6-2
3. Sentay (SJU) def. Alex Wernink (UR), 6-4, 6-2
4. Erwin (UR) def. Eshan Kanetkar (SJU), 6-4, 7-5
5. Fenjiro (SJU) def. Keitelman (UR), 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 (STB)
6. Agbo (SJU) def. Bell (UR), 6-1, 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 4, 6, 3, 5
 
Game Scores
Singles: Saint Joseph's 69, Richmond 45
Doubles: Saint Joseph's 16, Richmond 13
Total: Saint Joseph's 85, Richmond 58