EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (September 25, 2017) – Junior James Bisazza (West Barnstable, Mass.) of the Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team made a run to the quarterfinal round over the weekend at the ITA East Region Championships, hosted by NYIT. Bisazza led the way for the Ravens, who sent multiple competitors to the event.

Bisazza opened his tournament by rolling to a 6-2, 6-0 win over senior Jose Carillo of Roberts Wesleyan in the first round. Things got tougher in the second round, where Bisazza picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over junior Richard Sec of Queens (N.Y.) College, which is currently ranked first in the region as a team. Bisazza would pick up another straight-set win in the third round, with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Roberts Wesleyan senior Hugo Ball-Greene, the tournament's six seed. In his quarterfinal match, Bisazza met up with a conference foe, Southern New Hampshire senior Tiago Fernandes, the three seed, with the latter scoring a 6-1, 6-2 win to end the former's run.

"I am extremely proud of the way Sonny [Bisazza] played this weekend," said head coach Peter Arsenault. "He competed really well against some of the elite competition in our region. He truly represented what Franklin Pierce tennis is all about."

Elsewhere in the main singles draw for Franklin Pierce, freshman Roberto Chong (Puigpunyent, Spain) suffered a hard-fought, first-round loss to senior Ander Murillo of the University of the District of Columbia, 2-6, 6-4, 11-9. Chong had picked up a pair of wins in qualifying action just to advance to the main draw. In the first round of qualifying, he scored an 8-4 win over University of the Sciences junior Borna Novak. In the second round of qualifying, Chong downed Stonehill freshman Manu Ravichandrakumar, 8-2.

Six other Ravens each fell in their first qualifying match of the tournament. Junior Marcus Lawrence (Acton, Mass.) suffered an 8-3 loss to Philadelphia University sophomore Liviu Trifoi; junior Andrew Schadt (Tolland, Conn.) dropped an 8-4 decision to Le Moyne senior Jason Barton; sophomore Matthew Toombs (Pleasanton, Calif.) lost an 8-1 match to Daemen senior Mark Veitengruber; sophomore Yuval Barak (Zicron Ya'akov, Israel) suffered a 9-7 defeat to Saint Anselm senior Eric Howes; freshman Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago) dropped an 8-6 decision to Roberts Wesleyan junior Joshua Moore; and junior Dan Longtin (Eliot, Maine) lost an 8-0 match to Bentley senior George Samander.

Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce fielded four teams in the doubles tournament at ITAs as well. The duo of Chong and Barak picked up a 9-7 win in the first round, over Post junior Ivan Rajevac and sophomore Samuel Urban, before falling in the second round, 8-1, to Queens junior Cosme Jubera and senior Roman Laga.

Each of the Ravens' other three doubles teams suffered first-round defeats. Longtin and sophomore Ryan Plummer (Raymond, Maine) were felled, 8-1, by Samander and senior Brendan McCarthy of Bentley; Patrick and Lawrence were clipped, 8-6, by NYIT seniors Matej Selecky and Alexandre Martinez; and Bisazza and Schadt were doubled up, 8-4, by Merrimack seniors Frank Vega and Mikhail Belov.

The Ravens open their season from a team standpoint on Tuesday, Sept. 26, when they host Gordon College in a non-conference match at 3 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' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).