ERIE, Pa. - Franciscan men's tennis became the first team in AMCC history to win four straight conference titles, beating Penn St.-Behrend 5-0 in the 2016 conference finals.

"It's exciting, it's never been done before," head coach Jeremy Ellis said. "We've won five in six years and four in a row, that's never been done. That's good, it's a good win."

When the Barons and the Lions matched up in the regular season, Behrend was the only team to take an individual match from Franciscan during conference play, losing 6-3 overall. Anticipating this rematch in the conference finals, the Lions were determined to knock off the reigning champs.

Franciscan remained focused and took an early advantage in doubles play as seniors David Freytag and Zachary Quiza blanked their opponents 8-0 at No. 2 doubles to earn the Barons first point.

One court over, sophomore Connor Jooste and freshman Richard Watson won 8-3 at No. 3 doubles for Franciscan's second point.

For the second consecutive day, the sophomore pair of Jarek Sulak and John Gallagher had the most competitive doubles match of the afternoon. After two games on serve, the sophomores broke serve to go up 2-1 and never looked back, sending the Barons up 3-0 into singles play after an 8-4 win.

"No. 1 doubles had a tough round, tough match," Ellis said. "They just played really well. Going up 3-0 in doubles was huge. When we played in our season, we lost at No. 3 doubles. Then we put RJ in with Connor and that turned out well. They've been playing well together. They breezed through their match, which was huge. Going up 3-0 gives us the confidence."

Only needing two more points to clinch the title, singles play opened with five Barons winning their first sets. In the race to clinch one of the final points, Quiza was the only one to drop his first set, losing by a close score of 6-4.

"Zach struggled at the beginning but there's another pressure where you want to finish your match before other people win points," Ellis said. "I think he was trying to rush it and he wasn't finding any rhythm. He slowed down a bit and started playing much better. I wish he would have had the chance to finish his match because I think Zach could have [won]."

Meanwhile, Sulak rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles to bring Franciscan within one point of the championship.

"The big one is Jarek stayed solid throughout the season," Ellis said.

Freytag, Gallagher and Watson were all within range of match point on their courts but it was the freshman who sealed the title with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles.

"On three courts, we had match point," Ellis said. "I think RJ pulling out the fifth point is huge, our only freshman in the starting lineup."

Having achieved a feat that no other men's tennis team has ever accomplished in the AMCC, Franciscan also receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive year.

"We won 5-0, we're ready for the NCAA tournament," Ellis said.

To prepare for the tougher competition at the national level, the Barons will wrap up their regular season with two more nonconference matches this week. First up for Franciscan is Wittenburg University on Tuesday, April 19, at 4:00 p.m.