FRANCISCAN SECURES MEN'S TENNIS REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP

The Franciscan University men's tennis team locked up the No. 1 seed for the AMCC men's tennis championship tournament on Sunday, with a 7-2 victory over conference opponent Penn State Behrend.

After warmups concluded and team lineups were introduced, doubles play commenced. No. 3 doubles duo senior David Freytag and Jack Galla got things started the right way for the Barons, with an 8-0 victory. Aggressive service returns kept the match out of reach for the Lions, and Galla registered key first serves in the final game to clinch the first point of the day for the Barons.

Courts 1 and 2 both played witness to two dynamic matches. At No. 2 doubles, junior Connor Jooste and sophomore RJ Watson found themselves down match point twice at 8-7, but key serves from Jooste kept the Barons in the match. They clinched a nail-biter of a tiebreaker 8-6 for the match, controlling the net early and returning serves deep into the court.

Juniors Jarek Sulak and John Gallagher were down 2-0 early in the match, before holding Gallagher's serve at love. They would break back to even the match at 4-4, but Sulak's serve was immediately broken to give the Lions back the lead. After the changeover, the Barons earned back the break, and two games later were serving for the match. Again the Lions showed resilience, evening the score at 7-7. The score would reach 8-8 before a Gallagher slice return at 6-3 in the tiebreak gave Franciscan the win.

After key doubles matches went the Barons' way, they broke their huddle up 3-0 overall. Off the court first was team captain Freytag, who rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory. He has lost a combined two games in his last four matches.

Two courts down, Jooste was the fifth and deciding point for the Barons on the day.

No. 4 singles player RJ Watson picked up a quick 6-2 first set win and followed that up with a 6-4 victory, putting Franciscan's sixth point in the books.

Gallagher lost a quick first set 6-3 at No. 2 singles. The junior would clinch the second set in a tiebreak, 7-3, and the match would be decided by a ten-point tiebreaker. Gallagher ended up losing via an 11-9 tiebreaker loss.

Sulak also found stiff competition at No. 1 singles. He lost his first set 7-6 in a highly contested tiebreak and watched the second set get away from him, as well, 6-2. 

Galla found his singles victory in the form of a 6-3, 6-4 straight sets win.