Nogueira earns singles and doubles victories for the Ravens in the season-opener

MANCHESTER, N.H. (September 23, 2007) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s tennis team dropped its 2007 season-opener to Southern New Hampshire by a score of 7-2 on Sunday afternoon at the SNHU Courts.

Sophomore Helder Nogueira (Dourados, Brazil/Lowell (Mass.)) had a hand in both Raven wins on the day. He earned the visitors’ only win in singles play, taking a 6-4, 6-0 decision over David Spaggiari (Manizales, Colombia/Univ. of the Cumberlands) at first singles. Nogueira then teamed with senior Austin Gardella (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) to take down Spaggiari and Luis Ramirez (San Cristobal, Venezuela), 8-5, in first doubles action.

The second doubles team of freshmen Max Logan (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) and George Xeanakis (Lakeville, Mass./Apponequet) nearly earned the Ravens a third point on the day, dropping a tough 9-7 match to Mike Ricciardi (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) and Sam Gould (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry).

Franklin Pierce (0-1, 0-1 NE-10) will return to conference play on Oct. 5, when the Ravens welcome Le Moyne College to the Franklin Pierce tennis courts for the team’s 2007 home-opener beginning at 11 a.m. Southern New Hampshire (2-0, 2-0 NE-10) will take on Merrimack on Sunday afternoon.