Northeast-10 Conference Championship information

RINDGE, N.H. (April 29, 2018) – For the second season in a row, the Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team is postseason bound. The fifth-seeded Ravens will open play in the Northeast-10 Championship on Tuesday, April 30, when they travel to fourth-seeded Le Moyne for a first round contest at 2 p.m. in Syracuse, N.Y. The match will be held at Skytop Tennis Courts on the campus of Syracuse University.

Franklin Pierce (12-8) returns to the postseason for the second straight season, after making its first appearance in over a decade last season. In all, the Ravens have appeared in the NE10 Championship on six occasions. They have made four trips to the semifinals and finished as the runner-up in both 2003 and 2005. Meanwhile, Le Moyne (12-8) heads to the NE10 Championship for the 13^th time. The Dolphins have advanced to the semifinal round on one occasion, last season, and have a 1-12 record all-time in NE10 Championship play.

Northeast-10 Championship
(seeds in parentheses) 

Tuesday, April 30
Match 1: (6) Stonehill at (3) Merrimack – 2 p.m.*
Match 2: (5) Franklin Pierce at (4) Le Moyne -- 2 p.m.* 

Thursday, May 2
Match 3: Match 1 Winner at (2) Bentley -- 2 p.m.*
Match 4: Match 2 Winner at (1) Southern New Hampshire -- 2 p.m.*

Saturday, May 4
Match 5: Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner -- TBD
Championship match hosted by highest remaining seed.
* - All times subject to change based on weather.

Scouting the Ravens

Franklin Pierce put together a 6-3 record in NE10 play this spring, which represented a one-match improvement over last season's squad. The mark was identical to Le Moyne's league record, but the Dolphins claimed the fourth seed based on their 7-0 win over the Ravens in New York on April 3.

The Ravens are led by sophomore Roberto Chong (Puigpunyent, Spain), who put together a 7-2 mark in NE10 singles play, which included a 5-1 record at first singles and a 2-1 ledger at second singles. Chong was one of only two Ravens to play singles in all nine NE10 matches, as he was joined by fellow sophomore Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago), who finished 2-3 at third singles and 3-1 at fourth singles to post a 5-4 NE10 record. In all, Franklin Pierce went 31-23 (.574) in singles play against NE10 competition. Remarkably, this amounted to a difference of just one match, in the positive direction, from last season's record of 30-24.

The Ravens struggled a bit on the doubles side of things, as they put together just a 10-17 (.370) mark in NE10 doubles play. The pairing of seniors James Bisazza (West Barnstable, Mass.) and Andrew Schadt (Tolland, Conn.) was the only one to crack .500, as they went 0-1 at second doubles and 3-2 at third doubles to post a 3-3 record. The effect of the team's doubles record was minimized by clumping the wins together under the new Division II scoring format this season, which saw a match's three doubles contests combined to count as one team point for whichever side took at least two of the three. Despite the 10-17 NE10 doubles record, Franklin Pierce claimed the doubles point in four of its nine league matches.

Scouting the Dolphins

On the other side of the ledger, the Dolphins also finished 6-3 in NE10 play and wrapped up the regular season with a 7-0 sweep of Saint Michael's at home on Friday.

For Le Moyne, sophomore Tom Jarry, junior Philip Blythe and senior Andres Hernandez have carried most of the load at first through third singles, in that order. Jarry notched a 6-2 mark, exclusively at first singles, Blythe went 5-2 at second singles and 1-0 at first singles to finish 6-2 as well, while Hernandez finished 5-1 at third singles and 2-0 at second singles for a 7-1 record. The Dolphins have been rather dominant in singles play, chalking up a 42-12 record (.778) in NE10 play.

The Dolphins were no slouch in NE10 doubles play either, where they went 18-9 (.667). Le Moyne mixed and matched throughout the year, using a total of 10 different doubles pairings in league matches. Blythe and Jarry were one of the only consistent pairings, as they teamed up seven times at first doubles and posted a 6-1 record.

Earlier this Season

The two teams met on April 3 at Le Moyne, with the Dolphins posting a 7-0, shutout victory.

Despite the blanking, it is not impossible to see a path for the Ravens to close the gap and make things competitive, as two of the six singles matches required three sets, while another two also featured a tiebreak along the way. At first singles, Bisazza rolled through the first set before Jarry battled back for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win. It was a similar story at third singles, as Patrick took the first set and Hernandez rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. Meanwhile Schadt forced a second-set tiebreak in a loss to sophomore Christian Erickson at fourth singles and junior Yuval Barak (Zicron Ya'akov, Israel) did the same against senior Xavier Graells at fifth singles.

Headed to the Match?

If you plan on making the trip to Syracuse on Tuesday afternoon, directions to the Skytop Tennis Courts can be found here: https://cuse.com/sports/2004/8/25/tennisdirections.aspx

Up Next

The winner of Tuesday's first round match will advance to take on top-seeded Southern New Hampshire on the road in the semifinal round on Thursday, May 2, at 2 p.m. The Penmen are the three-time defending NE10 champions and have not lost an NE10 match in either the regular season or the postseason since the end of the 2015 campaign.

Tuesday's other first round contest features sixth-seeded Stonehill traveling to meet third-seeded Merrimack. The winner of that match will advance to visit second-seeded Bentley on Thursday.

The winners of the two semifinal matches will meet on the campus of the highest remaining seed for the NE10 title match on Saturday, May 4. 

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (https://www.fpuravens.com). 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 (https://www.fpuravens.com/store).