FAIRFIELD, CT (September 17, 2012) - The Sacred Heart men's tennis team opened the dual match portion of their 2012-13 schedule on Sunday afternoon with a 5-2 win over Northeast Conference foe St. Francis (NY) on the SHU Tennis Courts.

Sophomore Justin Pagan (Flushing, NY) led the Pioneers in singles action with a 6-2, 6-4 win at #1 over Ricardo Garcia.  The Pioneers would go on to win four of the six singles matches in the win.  Senior Mike Provenzano (Upper Montclair, NJ) earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Alex Tokarz at #4.

A pair of SHU freshman picked up their first collegiate singles wins in Brian Power (Pelham, NY) and Matt Dean (Rocky Hill, CT).  Power was a 7-6, 6-4 winner at #5 singles over Martin Grunin.  Dean followed with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Evan Vrsaljko in the #6 slot.

In double play, the Pioneers earned the point with wins at #2 and #3.  Junior Luka Bagi (Branford, CT) and freshman James Barnhart (Longmeadow, MA) posted an 8-2 win over Tokarz and James Chung.  Junior Kevin Budrawich (New Caanan, CT) and senior John Lopresti (Syosset, NY) teamed for an 8-4 win over Grunin and Terns Campius at #3.

The Pioneers will compete at the USTA Collegiate Championship this weekend.

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