If you're feeling a girl and she is in a group you never wanna single her out when approaching. You wanna approach the group and make them all comfortable. Later you can single out the girl you want to get close to. I bet the way he approached you guys is what made the single girl reject him. If he was more chill about his intentions I think he would have a more favorable response. Either way, how he responded in the end tells you everything about him anyway.