Franklin Pierce Closes Regular Season with 5-4 Victory Over Bentley
Ravens clinch second seed in Conference tournament with the win
RINDGE, N.H. (April 18, 2002) - The Franklin Pierce men's tennis team clinched the second seed in the Northeast-10 Conference tournament and finished the NE-10 regular season with a 5-4 win over Bentley College this afternoon.
Junior Art Shannon (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) improved to a perfect 11-0 in his Conference singles matches as he defeated Bentley's Keenan Dalal 6-2, 6-2 at #5 singles. Shannon also recorded a 9-7 win at #2 doubles with teammate Maciej Szpakowski (Cutchougue, N.Y./Mattituck) to pace the Ravens.
Junior Ricky Sanford (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) posted a two set win over Andreas Pappas after teaming up with classmate Michael Hoffner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) for an 8-4 win at #1 doubles.
Senior Pat Teague (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) and sophomore Darko Minic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia/XII Belgrade Gimnasium) also posted a win in their doubles match, as they defeated Barrett Alston and Andrew Murray 8-2 at the #3 spot.
Franklin Pierce closes out the Northeast-10 Conference regular season with a 14-9 record overall, 10-2 in League play. The team will next travel to Saint Anselm College for the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament, where it will face the #7 seed, Stonehill College, at 3:30 p.m.
| Singles | Winner | Set 1 | Set 2 |
| Darko Minic (FP) vs. Ivan Eskildsen (BEN) | BEN | 6-4 | 7-5 |
| Michael Hoffner (FP) vs. Kevan Riley (BEN) | BEN | 6-1 | 6-1 |
| Ricky Sanford (FP) vs. Andreas Pappas (BEN) | FP | 6-4 | 6-4 |
| Matt Szpakowski (FP) vs. Barrett Alston (BEN) | BEN | 7-5 | 6-4 |
| Art Shannon (FP) vs. Keenan Dalal (BEN) | FP | 6-2 | 6-2 |
| Ryan Jones (FP) vs. Greg Ranieri (BEN) | BEN | 6-1 | 6-0 |
| Doubles | Winner | Set |
| Hoffner/Sanford (FP) vs. Riley/Dalal (BEN) | FP | 9-7 |
| Szpakowski/Shannon (FP) vs. Eskildsen/Pappas (BEN) | FP | 8-4 |
| Minic/Teague (FP) vs. Alston/Murray (BEN) | FP | 8-2 |