PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team dropped a tight match across town on Friday afternoon, falling to Drexel by a 4-3 score.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Dragons took the doubles point with a sweep of all three flights.
 
• The hosts also claimed wins in the first and third singles flights before Ernesto Ruy recorded a straight-sets victory in the second and Santiago Valle rolled in the fourth to get the Hawks back within a point.
 
• Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, the Dragons took the sixth flight to clinch the match; Matthew Dubas would go on to win his fifth-flight match in a supertiebreaker to close out the day.
 
HAWK TALK
"Tough one today," head coach Jeff Puhan said.  "We had our chances for sure.  We had outstanding performances by Ernesto and two of our freshmen, Santiago and Matthew Dubas.
 
"I knew this would be a close match; our singles play was much improved.  We need to have a short-term memory as Navy is on deck tomorrow."
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks travel to Navy on Saturday.
 
RESULTS
 
Drexel 4, Saint Joseph's 3
 
Doubles
1. Alex De Sousa / Roman Lafond (DREX) def. Othman Bezzaz / Ernesto Ruy (SJU), 6-3
2. Will Burridge / Hussein El Tawil (DREX) def. Justus Agbo / Santiago Valle (SJU), 6-2
3. Josue Guzman / Tiago Lima (DREX) def. Matthew Cizmarik / Matthew Dubas (SJU), 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
 
Singles
1. De Sousa (DREX) def. Agbo (SJU), 7-5, 6-2
2. Ruy (SJU) def. El Tawil (DREX), 7-5, 6-2
3. Burridge (DREX) def. Bezzaz (SJU), 6-2, 6-4
4. Valle (SJU) def. Antonio Franquis (DREX), 6-3, 6-2
5. Dubas (SJU) def. Guzman (DREX), 6-2, 3-6, 11-9 (STB)
6. Lafond (DREX) def. Cizmarik (SJU), 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 6, 5