BEREA, Ohio - Franciscan men's tennis played their first match of the season against the consistently strong Baldwin Wallace program, losing 6-3 on the road.

While Baldwin Wallace is a team that Franciscan has never beaten before, the Barons were able to improve on their previous performances. The won three individual matches this year after previously winning only one match in the entire history of the matchup.

"Going into this, we knew it was going to be tough," Head Coach Jeremy Ellis said. "On top of that, our guys only have had three days of practice compared to their two weeks. We were definitely underprepared and overmatched and they went out and played extremely well.

After the doubles matches, the Yellow Jackets were up 2-1 with the Barons already improving on last year's 9-0 loss. Franciscan's no. 2 doubles duo freshmen Jarek Sulak and John Gallagher won three straight games to win their match 8-5.

Sulak and Gallagher were also particularly impressive in their no. 3 and no. 4 singles matches. Both men won by final scores of 6-4, 6-2.

"Jarek and John, played fantastic together to pull out the win there," Ellis said. "Both Jarek and John also had phenomenal singles matches."

Those three matches rounded out the Barons' scoring for this match.

Since the Barons did not have a chance to play in the fall semester, this match marked the first real collegiate playing time for many of the FUS players.

"Having those two matches in the fall would have been nice to work out some nerves," Ellis said. "The only thing we need now is to get a lot of court time and conditioning."

The Barons will take on their first conference opponent of the season on the road against Pitt.-Bradford February 21 at 1 pm.