MONROEVILLE, Pa. - Franciscan men's tennis began the hunt for their third consecutive conference title with a 5-0 sweep of no. 4 seed Pitt.-Greensburg in the AMCC semifinals.

The Barons were almost untouchable during doubles play, with the freshmen duo of Jarek Sulak and John Gallagher winning the first 15 points in their no. 2 doubles match before their opponents could even get on the scoreboard.

The pair were the first team to walk off the court, winning at love 8-0 for Franciscan's first point on the afternoon.

Brothers Zachary and Joseph Quiza were the next to finish with an equally dominant 8-1 win at no. 1 singles.

"It was the best doubles match the Quizas have played," head coach Jeremy Ellis said. "They played solid."

Winning at no. 3 doubles was a little more difficult as freshmen Connor Jooste and Mitchell Plys had to fight their way out of an early 2-1 hole. A little later in the match, the freshmen pair were broken for a 4-4 tie but then rattled off four straight games for the 8-4 win.

"Connor was definitely nervous and tight," Ellis said. "We are playing with a lot of freshmen, and this is their first time in the conference tournament, so yeah, I have to expect that. Overall, that was the only match that you could kind of see a little bit of playing tight but they worked through it mentally and physically and were able to pull it out."

Having the early 3-0 lead is especially important in tournament play as the match is decided by the first team to five points, putting less pressure on the singles player since they only have to win two out of six matches.

"It's huge. We have to do the same thing tomorrow," Ellis said. "Playing as big as they did in doubles is a big deal. It shows them that they can do it and hopefully gets them ready for tomorrow."

The two Quizas carried over their strong play from doubles to their respective singles matches. At no. 2 singles, Joe was the first to win with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over his opponent.

Zach was not far behind, finishing minutes later with a 6-1, 6-1 win at no. 1 singles, clinching the Barons spot in the championship match on Sunday.

Ellis said that he thought it was fitting for the junior to be the one to finish off the semifinal match, considering how he was the one who sealed the win in last year's championship nail-biter against Greensburg.

"He definitely came out to a slow start this year coming back from Austria but he showed his play today," Ellis said. "He played really well in both doubles and singles. It was good to see our veteran come through."

Franciscan will face the winner of no. 2 Penn St.-Altoona vs. no. 3 Penn St.-Behrend in the championship match. In the regular season, the Barons beat both opponents by scores of 9-0.

"The way we'll lose is if we beat ourselves," Ellis said. "We've had a solid season, we've played well. We had some tight matches but I think that our guys are playing better now so we just have to push through."

The Barons will vie for their third consecutive conference title against the winner of Altoona/Behrend in the AMCC championships on April 19 at 11:30 am at the Club for Life in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.