Sanford and Minic pace Ravens to seventh-Conference win

N. ANDOVER, MASS. (April 14, 2003) - The Franklin Pierce men's tennis team rebounded from yesterday's tough loss to Bryant, to post an 8-1 win over Merrimack College in Northeast-10 Conference men's tennis action this afternoon.

Senior Ricky Sanford (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) and junior Darko Minic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) each posted two-set wins in their singles matches after teaming up for an 8-0 win over Merrimack's Peter Arsenault and Omar Brahim at the #1 doubles spot to pace the Ravens.

Senior Art Shannon (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) and sophomore Maciej Szpakowski (Cieszyn, Poland/Mattituck (N.Y.)) registered an 8-4 win to improve to 13-5 at #2 doubles and each went on to record 6-0, 6-1 wins in their singles matches. Sophomore Ryan Jones (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) also posted a win at singles, defeating Brahim 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 after clinching an 8-3 win at #3 doubles with senior Michael Hoffner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh).

In the final match of the afternoon, J.P. Morgan (Hampton Bays, N.Y./Hampton Bays) battled with sophomore Josh Carroll at the #6 singles seed. Carroll was the eventual winner, defeating Morgan, 12-10, in a controversial tie-breaking set.

Franklin Pierce (12-10, 7-2 NE-10) returns to the courts on Thursday when it hosts Bentley College in a Northeast-10 Conference match at 3:30 p.m.

Franklin Pierce 8, Merrimack 1