ALTOONA, Pa. - Franciscan men's tennis remained undefeated in conference play with a 9-0 sweep over Penn St.-Altoona.

"It was a good conference win," head coach Jeremy Ellis said. "The boys played well. We've had a good week of conditioning and practice. They've been staying on top of their game."

Doubles were definitely on top of their game, giving the Barons two quick points with 8-2 and 8-1 wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Sophomore Connor Jooste and senior Joseph Staniszewski had a little bit of a struggle at No. 3 doubles but were able to pull out the 9-7 victory to give Franciscan a 3-0 advantage heading into singles play.

"The doubles played really well," Ellis said. "No. 3 doubles started out well and then got tight again but they closed this one out, pulled it out. That's good, we needed that to happen."

After playing in the most competitive doubles match of the afternoon, Jooste struggled to open his No. 5 singles match, losing the first set 6-2 rather quickly. The sophomore refocused and bounced back to win the final two sets 6-2, 10-8.

"I guess Connor had the closest match," Ellis said. "He struggled right out the gate, kind of carried over from No. 3 doubles. He lost the first set pretty quick but came up around and won the second set then pulled out a tiebreaker. He had a challenge. The guy he played was tough, pretty consistent. He pulled that out, showing some mental toughness."

Outside of Jooste's match, the Lions only combined to win seven more games during singles play, contributing to the 9-0 sweep.

"In singles, all the guys just played well," Ellis said.

The Barons have a lot more tennis left this weekend, taking on two more AMCC opponents Saturday and Sunday in order to better prepare for the conference tournament in a few weeks.

"Everyone is playing pretty good so we're just getting ready for conference," Ellis said. "We have two conference matches this weekend still but I think we are playing great tennis. We're ready for it."

Mount Aloysius College will host the Barons on Saturday, April 2, with first serve at 1 p.m.