RINDGE, N.H. (April 24, 2021) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team wasted no time in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon. The third-seeded Ravens blitzed sixth-seeded Stonehill at home, 4-0. Graduate student Kevin Denecheau (Artigueloutan, France) and freshman Ivan Bernal (Madrid, Spain) led the way, as they teamed for a win at second doubles, before picking up victories at second and third singles, respectively.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 6-1 and advances to the semifinal round on Tuesday, April 27. The Ravens will travel to second-seeded Southern New Hampshire for a 1 p.m. start. With the loss, Stonehill sees its season come to a close at 1-9.

The Ravens took two out of the three doubles matches to claim the doubles point to open play. Denecheau and Bernal took second doubles from senior Russell White and sophomore Luke Nickerson, 6-1. Stonehill answered with a win at first doubles, where sophomore Christian Duffy and senior Aleksander Lazowski doubled up graduate student Felipe Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and junior Preston Gordon (Essex Junction, Vt.), 6-3.

The doubles point thus came down to third doubles, where the Ravens pulled out a 7-5 win, as seniors Yuval Barak (Zicron Ya'akov, Israel) and Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago) defeated senior Trent Newman and sophomore Ben Simmons.

Franklin Pierce then took second through fourth singles in straight sets to clinch the victory. At third singles, Bernal cruised past Newman, 6-3, 6-1. Fourth singles was smooth sailing as well, as Cladera took a 6-1, 6-0 victory from junior Vincent Huynh. Things were a bit closer at second singles, but Denecheau took care of White, 6-3, 7-5, to wrap things up.

First, fifth and sixth singles were all left unfinished after the Ravens closed out the victory.