Men's Tennis Place Second at AMCC Championships; Lions Edged in Tiebreaker

WEXFORD, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's tennis team placed second at the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships on Sunday, surrendering the crown due to a tie-breaker to Franciscan and ending a three-year winning streak.

The Lions and the Barons each totaled 18 points over the two-day event. Franciscan beat out Behrend on the first tiebreaker criteria of most singles and doubles flights won, by a 4-3 margin. The Barons won three singles and one doubles competition, while the Lions won two singles and one doubles event. Penn State Altoona was a close third with 17 points, just one off from the two leaders.

The Lions headed into the championships with an undefeated mark at 6-0 and narrowly beat Franciscan 5-4 during the regular season.

Elliot Blackstone was a double winner over the weekend, posting his fourth consecutive win in singles play.  Competing at the No. 1 spot, he received a bye into the semifinals and defeated Steve Beatty of D'Youville 6-3, 6-3 before handing Leonel Lacayo of Franciscan 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Blackstone and Chris Galvin were victorious twice at No. 1 doubles to be named the champions. They posted an 8-0 score in the semifinals and then only lost one set in the finals to defeat Paul Jarzynka and Brian Robau of Franciscan, 8-1.

Galvin also played at No. 2 singles and was seeded third coming into championship weekend. He won 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, but fell to Steven Dull of Penn State Altoona, 6-2, 6-1.

The final two doubles matches were decided by an 8-5 score. Jake Fling and John Michalko were playing in the second flight. They won 8-5 in the semifinals in the morning and went on to fall in the championship match. The same story applies to Brian Goda and Chris Tillman at third doubles. The pair were an 8-0 winner, before losing to Scott Pickrell and Jarred Sutton of Altoona.

At No. 3 singles, Chris Tillman was a win away from the finals, advancing in the first round with a 6-2, 6-3 score and then falling in the semifinals. Fling played at No. 4 spot for Behrend in singles, blanking his first opponent 6-0, 6-0. Luke Merry, the eventual champion, defeated Fling 6-1, 6-2 in the semis.

Goda made it to the finals in No. 5 singles as the top seed. He defeated Curtis Bowser and took Max Averbach to three sets, falling 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Michalko was the second singles champion for the Lions. Competing at the sixth flight, he handed Brad Leroy of Pitt-Bradford a 6-2, 6-3 defeat and worked hard in the finals to get his trophy with scores of 7-5, 0-6, 7-5.

D'Youville finished fourth with six points, Pitt-Bradford tallied four points for fifth and Mt. Aloysius places sixth.