FLUSHING, N.Y. (February 25, 2022) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's tennis team suffered a 5-2 defeat on the road on Friday afternoon, in non-conference play at Queens (N.Y.).

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 3-3 on the season, while Queens improves to 1-3.

The Ravens opened up play on Friday by taking the doubles point. At first doubles, it was a 6-2 win for sophomore Ivan Bernal (Madrid, Spain) and graduate student Kevin Denecheau (Artigueloutan, France) over Queens juniors Kareem Rashad and Lucas Demuth. It was an identical, 6-2 score at second doubles, where junior Alejandro Ortiz (Madrid, Spain) and senior Nkrumah Patrick (Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago) took care of junior Mariano Bibiloni and sophomore Tim Ostheimer.

Franklin Pierce's other point came via a retirement at second singles. Bernal held a 4-2, first-set lead over Demuth, when the latter called it quits.

Queens took third, fourth and sixth singles in straight sets to seal the team match, but things were competitive at both first and fifth singles. At first singles, graduate student Felipe Carvalho (Sao Paulo, Brazil) battled back to force a third set, before falling to Rashad, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. At fifth singles, Patrick locked horns with freshman Philipp Uhde, and the latter pulled out a hotly-contested, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory. 

The Ravens are back in action on Wednesday, March 16, when they travel to meet Quinnipiac in a neutral-site, non-conference match in Manchester, Conn.