Ravens home against Stonehill Thursday

PHILADELPHIA (September 20, 2015) – Freshman James Bisazza (West Barnstable, Mass.) advanced to the quarterfinals in 'A' flight singles play, while freshman Marcus Lawrence (Acton, Mass.) was a semifinalist in 'B' flight singles play on Sunday, as the Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team wrapped up its trip to the USTA/ITA East Region Championships, hosted by University of the Sciences.

After his second-round win on Saturday, Bisazza's day opened in the third round against Stonehill sophomore Thomas Bellio. After a Saturday which saw several Ravens fall to Stonehill players, Bisazza exacted a little bit of revenge for the crimson and grey on Sunday. Bisazza took the first set, 7-6, and led the second set 1-0, before Bellio retired.

The victory advanced Bisazza to the quarterfinal round, where he met up with Concordia (N.Y.) junior Lorenzo Montegiorgi. The latter picked up the straight-set win, 6-1, 7-5, to knock out Bisazza. Bisazza was the farthest-advancing Northeast-10 Conference competitor in 'A' flight singles play.

Meanwhile, Lawrence put together a run in 'B' flight singles play, where each match until the semifinals was simply one set, after only half the first round had been completed on Saturday. In his first-round match, Lawrence advanced via walkover, as Merrimack's Alex Slobin bowed out. In the second round, Lawrence took a 6-5 victory from Assumption sophomore Christian Zuber. Lawrence moved to the third round, where he advanced by default over Caldwell's Andrej Bozovic.

In the quarterfinal round, Lawrence got out in front of Daemen freshman Andrew LeMar, 3-0, before the latter retired. Ultimately, in the semifinal round, it would be another Daemen player who finally ousted Lawrence, as sophomore Mark Veitengruber picked up an 8-5 win in the pro-set format and went on to be the tournament's runner-up.

Each of Franklin Pierce's other three 'B' flight singles players bowed out in the first round on Sunday. Freshman Joshua Singer (Toms River, N.J.) suffered a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Bill Bentley of University of the Sciences. Freshman Dan Longtin (Eliot, Maine) dropped a 6-5 decision to John Perfetti of Philadelphia Univ. Sophomore Logan Sherwood (Merrimac, Mass.) was downed, 6-1, by Bozovic, who ultimately defaulted to Lawrence in the third round.

The Ravens return to the court on Thursday, Sept. 24, when they return home to host Stonehill in a Northeast-10 Conference contest at 2 p.m. in Rindge.

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' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).