Syracuse, N.Y. (4/27/22) – The #5 Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team (7-8, 4-4 NE10) will hit the road once again for a matchup at #1 Le Moyne College (19-1, 7-0 NE10) in the NE10 Men's Tennis Tournament semifinal round this Thursday, April 27^th at 2:00 PM.

For the second straight season, Franklin Pierce advances to the semifinal round following their recent first round victory at #4 Saint Michael's College. Le Moyne College received a bye into the second round of the tournament as the top seeded squad. On the other half of the bracket, #3 Adelphi will face off with #2 Southern New Hampshire University after defeating #6 Bentley University in their own first-round battle, 4-0. The winner of both semifinal branches will advance to the NE10 Championship round, which will be played on Saturday, April 30^th.

Franklin Pierce has found a rhythm as of late, winning won three straight matches with two of them coming as shut out victories. The Ravens have rallied behind some strong play from their doubles pairings, working off of clean sweeps through all competition over their past three matches. Graduates Felipe Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Kevin Denecheau (Artigueloutan, France) have been riding the hot hand as of late, with each currently holding three match winning streaks in both doubles and singles competition. Sophomore Ivan Bernal (Madrid, Spain), who has been partnered with Denecheau in doubles all season long, currently shares in the doubles streak.

Le Moyne has sat atop the conference standings since the start of the fall season, currently riding 19 straight victories with their last loss coming on October 9^th, 2021. Since then, they have amassed a whopping 11 shutout victories and have gone undefeated within conference competition.

The two teams last met on Sunday, March 27^th in a home matchup for Franklin Pierce at the Monadnock Indoor Tennis Club. As they have done on a number of occasions this past season, Le Moyne emerged with a 7-0 shutout victory over the Ravens. The two clubs are also familiar with each other in tournament play, as they both appeared in last season's NE10 Championship final, which was also a victory for the Dolphins, 4-1. In their last ten matchups, Le Moyne is 9-1 overall with the Ravens last victory over the Dolphins dating back to 2012-13 season.