Over spring break, while most students were either at the beach, on vacation or at home with family and friends, the men’s tennis team traveled to Hilton Head, South Carolina for four matches. The Lions did not lose a single one of those matches, winning four straight an improving their record to 6-4.

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Starting on March 5th, the team took a 6-3 decision over the Lebanon Valley Dutchmen. Behrend was able to take the first six matches on the evening, as Brendan Dollard, Scott Russell and Yanique Apgar were able to claim singles victories in straight sets. Apgar and Russell combined for the largest doubles win on the day, winning by a seven point margin. With the match all but over, the Dutchmen got the final three singles wins, as Michael Funera, Brent McFarland and Noah Colvin suffered the lone defeats for the Lions.

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The very next day, Behrend swept state rival Penn State Harrisburg 9-0, taking all the doubles and singles matches in straight sets. Apgar and Dollard claimed the most dominant singles wins on the day, only allowing their opponents a single point in the match. They were also part of each of the doubles teams that won 8-2 alongside Russell and Scott Duckett, respectively. It took Funera winning a tiebreaker on the last point in the final singles match on the day to complete the sweep.

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The Lions then encountered the Albion Britons and did not have as easy of a time taking care of them. Even with the dominant 7-2 win, the Lions conceded the second doubles match on the day before Colvin and McFarland took the third doubles match by a narrow two point margin, which made the match 2-1 at the time. After close doubles action, the Lions won five of the six singles matches on the day, with Funera suffering the lone loss. Every other Behrend player won in straight sets to seal the overall five match win.

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On Friday, the Lions skidded by the Wartburg Knights by a match score of 5-4. After the pairs of Apgar and Russell and McFarland and Dollard took the first two doubles matches on the day, Wartburg’s Nate Kalz and Elliot Kuchera made the match 2-1 with an 8-5 doubles win. Connor Barnard of the Knights got the first singles victory before Behrend’s Russell, Dollard and McFarland ripped off three straight to seal Behrend’s fourth consecutive match victory. Wartburg won the final two singles matches in straight sets, but it was all for naught.

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The Lions look to keep their hot streak going this Saturday and Sunday against Otterbein and Pitt-Bradford, respectively, at home. The Otterbein match starts at 3:30 p.m. and the Pitt-Bradford match begins at 1 p.m.