FRANKLIN – The Franklin men's tennis team split a pair of matches played less than 24 hours apart, beating Concordia Ann Arbor 9-0 on Friday (Apr. 14) before dropping a heart-breaker to Rose-Hulman 5-4 on Saturday.
 
Franklin 9 – Concordia Ann Arbor 0
The Grizzlies started off the day with a pair of doubles victories and one doubles point by forfeit. Dustin Garrison and Layton Stieneker took the No. 1 doubles matchup 8-3 and the team of Shay Kyser and Nathan Jarboe were 8-1 winners in the No. 2 matchup.
 
Singles play saw Franklin sweep the four singles matchups and claim two wins by default. Owen Pickerill was a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 winner at one singles followed by a 6-0, 6-1 win from Ezra Schwier at the second position. Lucas Densford won 6-0, 6-4 at No. 3 singles and Brian Vennemann was a 6-0, 6-0 winner at the fourth position.
 
Rose-Hulman 5 – Franklin 4
The Grizzlies took the lead into singles play by taking two doubles victories. Garrison and Stieneker were 8-6 winners at the top of the doubles lineup and the tandem of Jarboe and Kyser claimed an 8-5 win from the third spot in the order.
 
Stieneker was a 6-3, 6-3 winner from the sixth position in the order and Pickerill was a 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-6 winner from the third spot in the order. But the other four singles matches went to the home side as Franklin dropped to 1-3 in HCAC play and 5-11 overall.
 
The Grizzlies are back at it on Sunday (Apr. 16) when they take on Kentucky Wesleyan University at noon.