QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's tennis team nabbed a hard fought, 4-3, victory over Stony Brook Friday night in the team's home opener. Freshman Alex Svetlakov (Minsk, Belarus) clinched the fourth win for the Red Storm to bring the contest to a close. St. John's is now 6-4 overall, while Stony Brook drops to 6-6 overall.

After dropping the doubles point, St. John's rallied back to pick up wins at the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions. However, it was at the No. 4 singles spot that Svetlakov earned the come-from-behind win for the Red Storm. He battled Jean-Francois Robitaille to the three set victory. Robitaille pulled away with a 6-4 win in the first set, but Svetlakov came back to the take the second and third sets, 6-3 each.

In other singles action, junior Louis Desmarteaux (Thornhill, Ontario) picked up his 13th win of the season at the No. 1 spot, topping Mike Crooks (6-1, 6-2) in straight sets. Senior Morgan Bauer (New York, N.Y.) faced a tough three set match at the No. 5 spot against Dave Kortum. Bauer dropped the first set, 1-6, but took the second and third sets, 6-2 each. At the No. 6 spot, junior Claudio Halim (Jakarta, Indonesia) stormed past Matt Jacobson (6-1, 6-0) to grab the straight set win.

The Red Storm returns to action on Saturday, April 1 when it will host the Rams of Fordham on the Courts at St. John's. First serve is scheduled for 10 a.m.

For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John's Athletics, please visit www.RedStormSports.com, or call our hotline at 1-888-GO STORM.

- Red Storm -