ORLANDO, Fla. – Alejandro Vedri rallied from a set down to win his top-flight singles match and propel the ninth-seeded Saint Joseph's men's tennis team to a 4-3 win over eighth-seeded Duquesne in the First Round of the Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Championship at the USTA National Campus on Wednesday afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Duquesne won the doubles point via wins in the top two flights.  The Dukes won a tiebreaker in the first flight, while the third-flight match was level at 6-6 when play was halted.
 
• Saint Joseph's got on the board quickly in singles play, with Inigo Diaz and Nassim Fenjiro claiming wins in the third and fourth flights, respectively.  Diaz was a 6-1, 6-3 winner, while Fenjiro took his match by a 6-2, 6-2 scoreline.
 
• Duquesne finished off a win in the second flight to tie the match, but Oscar Serra was a 6-2, 6-3 winner in the fifth flight to get the Hawks to match point.  When the Dukes claimed the sixth flight, that left just the top-flight match on the court to decide the winner.
 
• Vedri dropped the first set to Duquesne's Kaipo Marshall before rallying for a win in the second.  Just like the regular season match between the two, which Marshall won in three sets, this one went down to the wire.  With Marshall serving, down 5-4, Vedri was able to break his serve and win the set, the flight, and the match before ending up on the bottom of a celebratory dogpile.

HAWK TALK
"Our best performance of the year came when we needed it and when it mattered most," head coach Marc Pibernat said.  "I am so proud of what the team did today.  It was an absolute battle from the beginning to the end.  Even though we lost the doubles point, the team did an excellent job regrouping and getting the four singles wins we needed.

"A massive shoutout to our number one, Alejandro, who clinched it for us.  The team deserved a win like this, especially against Duquesne.  We are very excited to face VCU tomorrow, the most outstanding team in the conference.  Go Hawks!"
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks will meet top-seeded VCU in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
 
RESULTS
 
#9 Saint Joseph's 4, #8 Duquesne 3
 
Doubles
1. David Georgadze / Tamirlan Teberikov (DUQ) def. Inigo Diaz / Alejandro Vedri (SJU), 7-6 (3)
2. Jin Dassanayake / Kaipo Marshall (DUQ) def. John Butler / Oscar Serra (SJU), 6-3
3. Justus Agbo / Nassim Fenjiro (SJU) vs. Bode Vance / Liam Wickwire (DUQ), 6-6
 
Singles
1. Vedri (SJU) def. Marshall (DUQ), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. Georgadze (DUQ) def. Agbo (SJU), 6-4, 6-0
3. Diaz (SJU) def. Teberikov (DUQ), 6-1, 6-3
4. Fenjiro (SJU) def. Dassanayake (DUQ), 6-2, 6-2
5. Serra (SJU) def. Valentin Vasquez (DUQ), 6-2, 6-3
6. Keita Duclos (DUQ) def. Eli Gan-Dy (SJU), 6-3, 6-2
 
Game Scores
Singles: Saint Joseph's 61, Duquesne 49
Doubles: Duquesne 19, Saint Joseph's 15
Total: Saint Joseph's 76, Duquesne 68