Men's Tennis Concludes Play at the Merrimack Tournament
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (October 3, 2021) – The Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team wrapped up a two-day tournament, hosted by Merrimack College, on Sunday. On the weekend, the Ravens posted a 21-12 record between both singles and doubles competitions.
In singles play, graduate students Kevin Denecheau (Artigueloutan, France) and Felipe Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) competed in the A Singles. Denecheau and Carvalho defeated two opponents on Saturday to move on to the finals on Sunday. Carvalho fell to Merrimack's Jan Semerak 3-6, 4-6, while Denecheau defeated Will Chen of Holy Cross 7-5, 6-1.
The B Singles saw sophomore Ivan Bernal (Madrid, Spain) and senior Preston Gordon (Essex Junction, Vt.). Bernal defeated his first and second opponent on Saturday to advance to the finals. There, he defeated Andre Singer of Merrimack 6-4, 7-6(4). Gordon, unfortunately, fell in both matches on Saturday.
Senior Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago) was the lone Raven in the C Singles. Patrick took down Will Kelleher of Holy Cross 6-3, 7-5, before falling to Adrian Pawlowski of Boston University 2-6, 6-1, 6-10. On Sunday, Patrick was able to bounce back and get a 6-4, 6-3 win over Alec Mackay of Merrimack. Junior Alejandro Ortiz (Madrid, Spain) was the only Franklin Pierce member to compete in the D Singles. Similarly, Ortiz downed his first opponent Boris Stastny of SNHU 7-5, 6-4, before falling to Hassan Elalami of Merrimack 4-6, 2-6. Ortiz played in the E Singles on Sunday, defeating Mikey Prokopis of Holy Cross 6-3, 6-4.
Juniors Josh Arnold (Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago) and Paul McLellan (Nairobi, Kenya) competed in the E and F Singles, respectively. Arnold fell to his first opponent but went on to defeat Matt Maggiacomo of Holy Cross 6-1, 6-4. McLellan was defeated in his first match, before downing John Michael McTernan of Holy Cross 6-1, 3-6, 10-6. McLellan moved on to the final on Sunday, but fell to Merrimack's Phil Grueninger 6-2, 1-6, 5-10.
During the doubles competition on Saturday, Carvalho and Gordon paired up to defeat the Holy Cross duo of Chen and Kelleher 6-2, while duo Bernal and Denecheau defeated Jonah Dickson and Jose Robalino of Boston University in the A Doubles. The B Doubles saw the pair Ortiz and Patrick, as they defeated Owen Voigt and Ben Letzer of Boston University 6-3. McLellan and Arnold paired for the C Doubles falling to their first opponent.
On Sunday, Carvalho and Gordon fell in the first match on the day, before defeating Semerak and Mackay of Merrimack 7-6(6). Bernal and Denecheau also fell in their first match of the day but bounced back to defeat Chen and Kelleher of Holy Cross 6-2. Patrick and Ortiz won 6-3 over Statsney and Fernando Torres of SNHU. McLellan and Arnold turned things around and picked up two wins on the day, defeating McTernan and Jimmy Hennessy of Holy Cross 7-6(6) and Prokopis and Maggiacomo of Holy Cross 3-2.
The Crimson and Grey will be back in action on Sunday, October 10, when the team travels to Fordham for a 3 p.m. match.