ERIE, Pa.—The Franciscan University men's tennis team held on to its undefeated conference record, with a 5-0 victory of Penn St.-Altoona in the AMCC semi-finals. Franciscan went into the match ranked as the No. 1 seed and clear favorite against the fourth seeded Altoona team.

The Barons followed through with their season-long goal and pattern of winning all three doubles matches, establishing a strong momentum going into singles play.

"We came out really strong in No. 1 and 3 doubles," head coach Jeremy Ellis said. "They played really well. No. 2 doubles won pretty easily but we have to sort some things out and be a little tougher before our next match."

It was clear from early on in the match that all three Franciscan doubles teams were in the drivers seat, particularly the No. 3 doubles team of Joseph Staniszewski and Robert Butcher who got out to a lighting quick 5-0 lead. Butcher and Staniszewski finished with an 8-1 win, as did the No. 1 doubles team of Paul Jarzynka and Zachary Quiza.

The No. 2 doubles team of Luke Merry and David Freytag looked like they might sweep their match but some quality serves from the Lions tripped up the duo and made them work for the 8-2 win.

With finesse and good communication the doubles teams set the stage heading into singles as the team only needed to clinch two more wins to move on to the championship match.

"Winning doubles 3-0 really makes it easy to win just two other matches," Ellis said. "That was a nice situation to be in."

The situation got even better as the team's only two seniors, Jarzynka and Merry, sealed the clean sweep of Altoona was nearly flawless wins in their singles matches.

No. 1 singles, Jarzynka played the way you would expect from a team captain, dispatching his opponent 6-0, 6-0 before a few of the matches had even moved out of the first set. Merry then followed a few minutes later with an almost as dominant 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles to give FUS the 5-0 finish.

"It was pretty cool that our two seniors pulled out the two wins to push us over to the top," Ellis said.

Ellis also said with joking tone that next year the team will be in trouble without the skill and leadership from Jarzynka and Merry.

"Altoona stepped it up and played pretty well so it was a good match for us to get ready for tomorrow," Ellis said.

The FUS team moves on to face either No. 2 seed Pitt - Greensburg or No. 3 seed Pitt - Bradford in the championship match held on Sunday April 27 at 11 a.m. at the Westwood Racquet Club. The Barons are vying for their third conference title and second straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

"I think we're playing pretty well and it'll be important for us to get rest tonight," Ellis said as he looks forward to the championship match. "Everyone needs to be focused and play hard right out of the gate."