The Skyhawks reached the NE10 Championship for the seventh-straight year and now await word on an NCAA Tournament bid (PHOTO BY Meg Stokes/Franklin Pierce Athletics)

Mor earns Most Outstanding Player honors after pivotal three-set tiebreaker win at No. 2 singles
Ormesher earns NE10 Elite 24 Award, while Solorzano Valencia and Porter collect All-Championship accolades

RINDGE, N.H. (May 2, 2021) – Top-seeded Franklin Pierce University, ranked No. 2 in this week's NCAA Division II East Region rankings and No. 7 in the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region tennis rankings, held off a comeback effort in singles play by third-seeded and two-time defending champions Stonehill College, ranked No. 5 in this week's NCAA East Region rankings and No. 8 in the Oracle/ITA East rankings, to claim its first Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship in program history with a 4-2 decision at FPU Tennis Courts this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce (12-0, 9-0 NE10), making just its second NE10 Tournament appearance, claims its first championship with the win and earns the Conference's automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division II Tournament. Stonehill (10-3, 8-2 NE10), making its seventh-straight NE10 Championship match appearance and 14^th in program history overall, sees its bid for a third-straight championship (eighth overall) halted and will now wait to hear its NCAA Tournament fate when bids are announced at ncaa.com on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. 

Highlights

• Postgrad Himani Mor earned Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors for Franklin Pierce, providing a pivotal three set victory at No. 2 singles.
• Postgrad Estela Carra was the lone double-winner of the match for either side and joined Mor on the NE10 All-Championship team along with sophomore Liria Loria.
• Sophomore Cristina Solorzano Valencia and junior Emma Markaryan earned points for Stonehill in singles play at No. 1 and No. 4, respectively.
• Solorzano Valencia and senior Isabelle Porter represent Stonehill on the NE10 All-Championship Team.
• Junior Samantha Ormesher was presented with the NE10's Elite 24 Award for having the highest cumulative grade point average among all participants in today's NE10 Championship match.

Markaryan won her seventh-straight singles decision to knot the match at two points apiece (PHOTO BY Meg Stokes/Franklin Pierce Athletics)

How it Happened

• Carra and freshman Zoe Asterio Correa clinched the doubles point for Franklin Pierce with the second of two 6-1 results for the Ravens with their victory against Stonehill's No. 3 doubles pairing of Markaryan and sophomore Lily Peter.
• Sophomore Liria Loria doubled Franklin Pierce's lead with her 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles against Porter.
• Solorzano Valencia, ranked No. 6 in the Oracle/ITA Division II East Region singles rankings, started Stonehill's comeback effort by defeating Franklin Pierce freshman Maria Penalver Aguilo, the NE10 Rookie of the Year, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 singles.
• Markaryan knotted the match at two apiece by rallying past Franklin Pierce sophomore Laura Alvarez Tello in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4.
• Mor followed with a series of comebacks of her own at No. 2 singles against Stonehill sophomore Steffi Antao, rallying from down 5-2 in the third set to force a tiebreaker and then coming back from down 4-1 and 5-4 in the breaker by winning the final three points to clinch the Ravens third point, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5).
• Carra then offered the match and championship clinching decision with her 6-3, 6-2 triumph at No. 6 singles against Peter.

Noteworthy

• Stonehill was making its Conference record 22^nd NE10 Tournament appearance this week, reaching the semifinals for a record 18^th time, with a record 14 finals appearances and record seven championships. The Skyhawks ten runner-up finishes are also an NE10 record.

• Solorzano Valencia earned All-Championship Team honors after winner her sixth-straight match at No. 1 singles (PHOTO BY Doug Monson/Stonehill Athletics)

  Stonehill has won the NE10 Tournament Championship seven times, with titles in 2019, 2018, 2014, 2013 and 2009, to go with titles in 1991 and 1992 under the old flighted points system before the league switched to its present dual match tournament format in 1999.
• Stonehill joins Southern New Hampshire University as the only two teams to win points off Franklin Pierce, the unbeaten NE10 dual champions, this spring. SNHU dropped decisions of 5-2 and 4-1 to the Ravens during the regular season.
• Markaryan has now won her last seven singles matches with her victory this afternoon to improve to 9-1 this spring. She has now posted a combined record of 43-15 in singles and doubles play over her career, including a 36-9 singles mark.
• Solorzano Valencia has now won her last six singles decisions to improve to 7-1 this spring. She has posted three wins over regionally ranked opponents during that stretch and two wins over NE10 Players of the Year past and present. Solorzano Valencia has posted a combined singles and doubles record of 43-14 over her two seasons at Stonehill, including a 20-4 singles record and 23-7 doubles mark.
• Solorzano Valencia and Antao held a 5-2 lead over Franklin Pierce's top doubles tandem of Mor and Loria, ranked No. 8 in the most recent Oracle/ITA Division II East Region doubles rankings, when play was halted after the doubles point was clinched.
• Stonehill will be looking for its 15^th NCAA Tournament appearance when bids are announced on Tuesday night via ncaa.com at 8:30 p.m. The Skyhawks were on course for an NCAA appearance last spring after earning the NE10's automatic bid in the fall, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of the NCAA Championships in March.

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