NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Third-seeded Bentley University outlasted second-seeded Merrimack 5-4 Thursday afternoon to advance to its second straight Northeast-10 men's tennis final. The Falcons will look to defend their title against top-seeded Southern New Hampshire on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

With the match tied at three, sophomore Lucas Wever (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Chapel School) won a marathon three set match over Chris Barnhart in number one singles 5-7, 7-5, 6-5 after Barnhart retired. Wever fought off two match points in the second set and was down 5-1 in the third before reeling off five straight games.

Merrimack then tied it at four after Tim McHugh defeated junior Victor Suski (West Hartford, Conn./William Hall) 6-4, 6-3 in number five singles. Junior Alec Spycher (Sarasota, Fla./Saint Stephens Episcopal) beat Liam Hoare 7-6, 3-6, 6-1 in number four singles to clinch the match for Bentley.

Wever earned another point for Bentley, as he and sophomore Rodrigo Ribeiro (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Chapel School) topped Max Eppley and Petar Golijanin 9-8 in number one doubles. Ribeiro won two matches as well with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Golijanin in number three singles, and freshman Andrew Waddington (Granby, Conn./Granby Memorial) was the other winner, beating Chris Toegemann 6-1, 6-2 in number six singles.

Bentley and Southern New Hampshire met less than three weeks ago in Waltham with the Penmen winning 6-3.

Box Score

At North Andover, Mass.

Northeast-10 Semifinals

Bentley 5, Merrimack 4

Doubles

No. 1 Lucas Wever/Rodrigo Ribeiro (B) def. Max Eppley/Petar Golijanin (M) 9-8

No. 2 Chris Barnhart/Tim McHugh (M) def. Alec Spycher/Zach Tuckman (B) 9-8

No. 3 Liam Hoare/Chris Toegemann (M) def. Victor Suski/Andrew Waddington (B) 8-5

Singles

No. 1 Wever def. Barnhart (M) 5-7, 7-5, 6-5 retired

No. 2 Eppley (M) def. Tuckman (B) 6-1, 6-2

No. 3 Ribeiro (B) def. Golijanin (M) 6-1, 6-2

No. 4 Spycher (B) Hoare (M) 7-6, 3-6, 6-1

No. 5 McHugh (M) def. Suski (B) 6-4, 6-3

No. 6 Waddington (B) def. Toegemann (M) 6-1, 6-2