Franklin Pierce Drops Heartbreaker to Pace, 5-4
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. (March 10, 2002) - The Franklin Pierce men's tennis team fell to top-ranked Pace University, 5-4, in Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Darko Minic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia/XII Belgrade Gimnasium), junior Art Shannon (Danvers, Mass./Danvers) and freshman Ryan Jones (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) all notched wins in their singles matches to keep the score tight heading into the doubles matches.
Minic then teamed up with Matt Szpakowski (Cutchougue, N.Y./Mattituck) at #1 doubles, but lost to Pace's Dan Kiefer and Rogerio Martins, 8-2.
Michael Hoffner (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) and Ricky Sanford (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) secured an 8-5 win at #2 doubles to even the score 4-4. Franklin Pierce fell short at #3 doubles, however, falling to Charles Ruggerio and Adrian Cosma by a score of 8-1.
Franklin Pierce (2-2, 0-1 NE-10) next travels to Saint Anselm College on Thursday, March 14, for a Northeast-10 Conference matchup at 3 p.m. Pace (1-0, 1-0 NE-10) next faces Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday, March 16 at 1 p.m.
| Singles | Winner | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 |
| Darko Minic (FP) vs. Dan Kiefer (PACE) | FP | 6-1 | 7-6 (8-6) | |
| Michael Hoffner (FP) vs. Rogerio Martins (PACE) | PACE | 6-1 | 6-2 | |
| Matt Szpakowski (FP) vs. Eric Bochner (PACE) | PACE | 3-6 | 6-2 | 6-0 |
| Ricky Sanford (FP) vs. Kunal Rambhia (PACE) | PACE | 6-3 | 6-3 | |
| Art Shannon (FP) vs. Adrian Cosma (PACE) | FP | 6-3 | 6-0 | |
| Ryan Jones (FP) vs. Ross Chadbourne (PACE) | FP | 6-4 | 6-0 |
| Doubles | Winner | Set |
| Minic/Szpakowski (FP) vs. Kiefer/Martins (PACE) | PACE | 8-2 |
| Hoffner/Sanford (FP) vs. Bocher/Rambhia (PACE) | FP | 8-5 |
| Shannon/Teague (FP) vs. Ruggerio/Cosma (PACE) | PACE | 8-1 |
