NASHUA, N.H. (April 22, 2021) -- With conditions blustery outdoors across New England, the Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team and Bentley agreed to meet indoors on Thursday afternoon to wrap up their Northeast-10 Conference regular-season schedule. The Ravens came away with a 5-2 win when all was said and done at the Longfellow New Hampshire Tennis & Swim Club.

With the win, Franklin Pierce closes out the regular season at 5-1 (5-1 NE10), while Bentley falls to 2-7 (2-6 NE10). Both teams will advance to the NE10 Championship, which opens with quarterfinal-round play on Saturday. The Ravens will host a quarterfinal match at 1 p.m. Final seeding and matchups are expected to be announced by the NE10 later Thursday.

Franklin Pierce wrapped up the doubles points fairly quickly to open play on Thursday. At second doubles, freshman Ivan Bernal (Madrid, Spain) and graduate student Kevin Denecheau (Artigueloutan, France) cruised to a 6-2 win over senior Connor Aulson and graduate student Kendall Au. It was a 6-4 decision at first doubles, where graduate student Felipe Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and junior Preston Gordon (Essex Junction, Vt.) clinched the doubles point by defeating senior Daniel Weitz and freshman Max Bonte. Third doubles went the distance and required a tiebreak, before Bentley senior Maricio Fadul Rubod and junior Alexander Novins defeated seniors Yuval Barak (Zicron Ya'akov, Israel) and Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago), 7-6 (4).

Franklin Pierce doubled the lead to 2-0 with a win at second singles, where Denecheau topped Aulson, 6-3, 6-0. Bentley got on the board at sixth singles, to make it 2-1, as freshman Gabe Horowitz dealt Patrick a 6-3, 6-1 loss.

Franklin Pierce stretched the lead again at first singles, as Carvalho took care of Weitz, 6-2, 6-4. Once again, Bentley cut the lead back to one, at 3-2, as Fadul Rubod took a three-set duel from Barak at fifth singles, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.

The Ravens were able to wrap up the team match at fourth singles, where sophomore Joel Cladera (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) won a first-set tiebreak and went on to a 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over Novins. Though the team match was decided before it finished, third singles stood as the most closely-contested match of the day, as Bernal rallied for a 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Bonte.