PETERBOROUGH, N.H. (3/26/23) - The Franklin Pierce men's tennis team suffered its second in-conference loss of the 2023 spring season at home on Saturday evening, falling 4-3 to visiting Saint Michael's College at the Monadnock Indoor Tennis Club.

Pierce is now 3-8 (0-2 NE10) on the season, while Saint Michael's saw its record improve to 4-9 (1-1 NE10) with their second consecutive win.

Franklin Pierce got on the scoreboard first taking a 1-0 lead after taking two of three doubles matches. Both came as hard-earned victories for the Ravens, with seniors Alejandro Ortiz (Madrid, Spain) and Paul McLellan (Nairobi, Kenya) defeating Saint Michael's duo Josh Weiss and Jason Boucher by a 7-5 margin at the No. 2 position. At No. 3, freshman Orlando Guerrero (Pachuco, Mexico) and junior Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago) claimed the win over Sergio Barroso / Julius van den Broek, also by two points in a 6-4 final.

However, the Purple Knights would respond in singles action, claiming 4-of-6 positions. At No. 1 singles, senior Preston Gordon (Essex Junction, Vt.) narrowly lost through two sets to Josh Weiss after forcing a tiebreak in the first, falling by 7-6 (7-5) and 6-4 scores. Nkrumah Patrick wound up claiming one of the Ravens two singles wins at the No. 2 position, besting Jackson Moser 6-4 and 6-3, before Alejandro Ortiz claimed the other at No. 3 over Jason Boucher through three sets by 1-6, 6-7 (8-6) and 7-6 (7-2). The Purple Knights would then go three-for-three in the final trio of matchups, with Tristian Du Plessis and Sergio Barroso battling to three-set wins over Joshua Arnold (Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago) and Orlando Guerrero respectively. To close out the singles side, Mathis Billman earned a complete sweep over Ethan Hall (Duxbury, Mass.) by matching 6-0 scores.

Men's Tennis stays put for their upcoming matchup against Adelphi University (7-5, 2-0 NE10) on Wednesday, March 29^th at 10:30 a.m.