ALLENTOWN, Pa. (May 3, 2002) - The Franklin Pierce Men's Tennis team fell to Kutztown University, the #1 seed in the East Region, 5-0 at the NCAA Division II East Regional at West End Racquet Club this afternoon. Kutztown jumped out to the early lead, winning all of its doubles matches.

Alok Bhide (Pune, India) and Guillermo Ramos defeated Franklin Pierce's Darko Minic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia/XII Belgrade Gimnasium) and Maciej Szpakowski (Cutchougue, N.Y./Mattituck), 8-1, at #1 doubles to lead off the afternoon.

Johannes Wingerter recorded a two set shutout over junior Michael Hoffner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) at #2 doubles after an 8-4 win at #2 doubles with teammate Mukundan Nandakumar (Chennai, India).

Gustavo Boratto also posted a 6-0, 6-0 win in his singles match after posting an 8-1 win at #3 doubles with partner Velmurugan Annamalai.

Kutztown advances to the East Region finals, where it will play #3 Concordia (N.Y.) University at noon. Concordia upset second-seeded Millersville University, 5-4, in Friday's other semifinal. The winner of tomorrow's second round earns a trip to the NCAA Championships in Kansas City, Mo. on May 9-12.

Franklin Pierce closes out the 2002 season with a 15-12 record overall, 10-2 in Conference play. The trip to the East Regional marked FPC's first NCAA Tournament berth in program history.