CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - Franciscan men's tennis wrapped up an undefeated conference regular season with a 9-0 sweep over Pitt.-Greensburg.

"Greensburg is always tough," head coach Jeremy Ellis said. "It being the last conference match, being one that we faced in the finals two years ago, you never know what it's going to be like. It was a good match all around, a great match to get us ready for the tournament and a good match for our guys mentally. All around, it was a good way to end our conference play."

There was a little uncertainty heading into doubles play since the Barons were missing one of their top players in sophomore John Gallagher. In Gallagher's absence, Ellis paired Jarek Sulak and Zachary Quiza together at No. 1 doubles and seniors David Freytag and Joseph Staniszewski at No. 2 doubles. The new partners all handled the transition well, winning by scores of 8-0 and 8-1, respectively.

"That was a curveball," Ellis said. "I was uncertain how that was going to play out, but they handled it well. Jarek and Zach playing No. 1 played really well together, just two top players. David and Joe, coming in the same year and having that chemistry, they played well. We were able to handle it without John but you can definitely tell when you miss a player of John's level." 

Sophomore Connor Jooste and freshman Richard Watson completed the doubles sweep with a 8-0 win at No. 3 doubles.

"We swept doubles, which is always good going into the match 3-0," Ellis said. "Hopefully having Connor and RJ at the pairing for No. 3 doubles will give us a good edge going into the conference tournament."

Sulak was the first to walk off the court during singles play with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles while Watson was not far behind with a 6-2, 6-1 win on court No. 5.

A couple courts over, both Quiza and Jooste were challenged by their opponents in the first set. Jooste lost his in a tiebreak while Quiza had to break his opponent twice late in the first set to win it. The rest of their matches went much smoother as Quiza won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles and Jooste won 6-7(5), 6-2 and 10-6. 

"Zach played incredible," Ellis said. "To be able to that guy who is a heavy hitter, Zach really played well. Once again, it was a good match to get him ready for conference too. He always has to play the toughest opponent every time he walks out there and he's proved himself worthy. Connor pulled out a tight one, he played well."

Franciscan finished off the conference season undefeated for the fifth year in a row and will be the No. 1 seed in the AMCC tournament next weekend. 

To prepare for the conference tournament, the Barons will travel to Allegheny College on Wednesday, April 14, at 5 p.m. to take on the Gators.