BEVERLY, Mass. – Bentley advanced to the semifinals of the Northeast-10 Men's Tennis Championship with a 5-1 victory over Franklin Pierce in the first round on Tuesday afternoon at the Bass River Tennis Club.

Bentley won two of the three doubles matches for an early 2-1 lead, then won all three of the singles matches that finished to seal the victory. Junior Michael Fuca (Manchester, Mass./Manchester-Essex) won in both doubles and singles to lead the charge.

The Falcons will face the top seed Southern New Hampshire in the semifinals on Thursday.

Fuca and Brett Gilman (Mahwah, N.J/Mahwah) combined for an 8-3 win in No. 2 doubles over Yuval Barak and Marcus Lawrence. The team of seniors Brendan McCarthy (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) and George Samander (Willemstad, Curacao) were also victorious, as they defeated freshman Roberto Chong and Andrew Schadt 8-4 in the No. 1 match.

In singles play, Bentley cruised to three wins in the No. 4-No. 6 matches. Freshman Daniel Weitz (Roslyn, N.Y./Roslyn) dropped just one game in defeating Schadt 6-1, 6-0 in No. 4. Fuca brushed aside Lawrence 6-3, 6-1 in No. 5, and freshman Connor Aulson (Groveland, Mass./Pentucket) won his 13^th  straight singles match, with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Matt Toombs in No. 6.

The Falcons have now advanced to the NE10 semifinals every year since 2007. Their match with the Penmen on Thursday at 2:00 pm.