SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 26, 2016) – In its first match since returning north from Florida, the Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team picked up an 8-1 win on the road at American International in Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 4-9 (1-3 Northeast-10), while American International falls to 0-3 (0-3 Northeast-10).

The Ravens built up a 3-0 lead to start things on Saturday, as they were victorious in all three doubles matches. The most competitive of the three came at first doubles, where freshmen Marcus Lawrence (Acton, Mass.) and Andrew Schadt (Tolland, Conn.) needed a tiebreak to put away graduate student James Worrall and Ricardo Ruiz, 9-8 (6).

At second doubles, freshman James Bisazza (West Barnstable, Mass.) and sophomore Olivier Viel (Quebec City, Quebec) rolled to an 8-2 win over freshman Luis Gouveia and sophomore Johno May. At third doubles, senior Drew Bennett (Rindge, N.H.) and sophomore Logan Sherwood (Merrimac, Mass.) breezed past senior Michael Schulze and sophomore Andrew DeBrincat, 8-1.

AIC picked up its only point of the day in the pro-set format at second singles, as Ruiz blanked Lawrence, 8-0. Franklin Pierce picked up wins in each of the other five singles matches, including an 8-3, pro-set win by Bisazza over Worrall at first singles and a win by default for Schadt over Gouveia at third singles, as the latter came up injured.

At fourth singles, Bennett trumped May, 6-0, 6-2. At fifth singles, it was a 6-0, 6-3 win for Viel over Schulze. At sixth singles, Sherwood took care of freshman Patrick Agit, 6-1, 6-0.

The Ravens return to the court on Thursday, March 31, when they travel to Post for a non-conference match at 3 p.m. in Waterbury, Conn.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce tennis apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).