RINDGE, N.H. (October 4, 2018) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team was home for the first time in 2019-20 on Friday afternoon, as the Ravens split a pair of matches against Division III competition. Franklin Pierce opened the day with a 5-4 loss to Babson, and later put together a late-night, 8-1 win over Connecticut College. In between, Babson took a 6-3 victory over Connecticut College.

With the split, Franklin Pierce's record now stands at 2-1. Babson improved to 3-0 with a pair of victories, while Connecticut College dropped to 0-2 with the losses.

In doubles play in the first match, Babson took two of the three contests. Ravens senior Yuval Barak (Zicron Ya'akov, Israel) and sophomore Preston Gordon (Essex Junction, Vt.) beat junior Markus Nordby and freshman Maxwell Conlin, 8-6, in first doubles. At second doubles, junior Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago) and freshman Alejandro Ortiz (Madrid, Spain) fell short against junior Andre Lubnic and sophomore Tyler Zhang, 8-2. Senior Dylan Pace and freshman Jack MacDonald of Babson won at third doubles, against freshmen Joshua Arnold (Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago) and Joel Cladera (Palma de Mallorca, Spain), 8-6.

Singles play fared better for the Ravens, as they split the six contests with the Beavers. At first singles Barak, took the win against Conlin, 7-6 (6), 6-2. Gordon won at second singles against Lubnic, 6-2, 6-0. Third singles was close in the first set, but Patrick ultimately fell to freshman Sebastian Bucarion, 7-5, 6-2. Cladera took a straight-set win at fourth singles against junior Chris Kolesnik, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Zhang took care of Arnold at fifth singles, 6-4, 6-4. Finally, at sixth singles, freshman Jeff Hampton took the win over Franklin Pierce freshman Paul McLellan (Nairobi, Kenya), 6-4, 6-0.

Later in the day, the Ravens rolled to a late-night, 8-1 win over the Camels of Connecticut College, including wins at all three doubles matches to open play in a match which would not finish until just shy of midnight. At first doubles, it was an 8-6 win for Gordon and Barak over juniors Brian Gould and Zachary Danz. At second doubles, Patrick and Ortiz doubled up sophomore Evan Goldsmith and freshman Aaron Fleishman, 8-4. At third doubles, Cladera and Arnold swept away senior William Feigert and sophomore Sean Jenkins, 8-0.

It was more of the same in singles play, as Connecticut College's only point of the day came at third singles, where Patrick retired after falling behind 4-1 in the first set against junior Sanglin Song.

Franklin Pierce took the wins in each of the five other singles matches, including hotly-contested tilts at first and sixth singles. At first singles, the first two sets went to tiebreaks before Barak pulled things out in the tiebreaker set over Guillermo Rincon, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 1-0 (10-8). Sixth singles also required a tiebreaker set, with Ortiz pulling out a 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-2) win over Gould.

It was straight-set wins for the Ravens at the remaining three singles matches. At second singles, Gordon took care of sophomore Julian Tien, 7-5, 6-2. At fourth singles, Cladera dispatched junior Walter Komishane, 6-2, 6-4. At fifth singles, Arnold rolled to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Jenkins.

The Ravens return to the court on Tuesday, Oct. 8, when they travel to Coast Guard for a non-conference match at 3:30 p.m. in New London, Conn.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (https://www.fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce tennis apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (https://www.fpuravens.com/store).