The Behrend beacon. (Erie, Pa.) 1998-current, March 27, 2009, Image 8

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    8 I The Behrend Beacon
Men's tennis team victorious against
Don't let their (5-7, 2-0)
record fool you. The Penn
State Behrend men's tennis
team means business.
Fresh off consecutive confer
ence victories over Pitt-
Bradford (1-3,1-2) and Pitt-
Greensburg (0-4, 0-3), the
Lions have their sights set on
defending their 2008 AMCC
championship.
"At this point in the season I
feel pretty good about the
team," says head coach Jeff
Barger. "In some areas we are
doing good but in others we
have a ways to go. One good
thing about the two matches
we played [against Pitt-
Bradford and Pitt-Greensburg]
is I got to rest some regulars
and get some other guys into
the action."
The Lions feature 10 impres
sive returning players from last
year's championship team.
They are led by senior cap
tain James Getty and sopho
more Elliot Blackstone, who
was named AMCC co-player of
the year as a freshman.
The Behrend men began
their season going 5-5 out of
conference play. The team ini
tial' cruised to a 4-1 record
Rachel still
holds onto
first place
after another
week.
Conner has a
one game
lead over
Christine.
Nick is sit
ting in fourth
place while
Matt is in
fifth.
Want to
play? •
Email
censos6@ps
u.edu for a
list of next
week's
games to see
if you can
"beat the
experts."
before traveling to Hilton
Head, South Carolina over
Spring Break to play top com
petition.
Though the team ended their
Spring Break vacation winning
just one out of five matches, it
was partly due to the absence
of sophomore Erkin Nasirli as
well as Barger's decision to
give all of his players the
opportunity to play.
With everyone getting valu
able in-game experience head
ing into conference play, the
Lions are better prepared.
Blackstone was perhaps the
most impressive Behrend play
er on the trip taking two dou
bles matches and going 3-2
against opposing team's best
singles players.
Saturday afternoon the
Lions hosted the Pitt-Bradford
Panthers for their first confer
ence battle of the season.
Blackstone conceded just
one point to his opponent in
the #1 singles match. Fellow
sophomore Jon Henderson
won the #1 doubles match.
In further doubles action,
Behrend featured junior Brad
Nagel and freshman Peter
Bissert in the #2 doubles
Left: Junior Shane Mosier serves to his opponent.
Right: Sophomore Jon Henderson prepares to strike the ball
Beat The Experts
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
#3 Syracuse vs. #2 Okla. Syra
#3 Kansas vs. #2 Mi. St. Mi. st. Kansas
#l2 Arizona vs. #1 Louis. Louis
#4 Gonzaga vs. #1 UNC UNC UNC
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
#4 Cal ((1 #1 Uconn
#4 Pitt as #1 Oklahoma Okla
#6 Arizona St. ca #2 T. A&M A&M A&M A&M
#7 Rutgers (fr #6 Purdue
NHL
Tampa Bay ru Washington
Toronto ca Buffalo
New Jersey as Chicago
N.Y. Rangers ((i Pittsburgh
Philly ca N.Y. Islanders
Phoenix San Jose
Nashville vi Detriot
Minnesota 6r Edmonton
match to win by a score of 8-3.
In singles action junior
Shane Mosier slotted at #3,
Henderson at #4, and junior
Kelly Manning at #6 shut-out
their respective opponents.
Overall the Behrend men
would win their match against
the Panthers by a 9-0 decision.
On Tuesday afternoon the
Lions hosted conference rival
Pitt-Greensburg in a match
which they beat their opponent
by a decisive 9-0 tally again.
In doubles action, the Pitt-
Greensburg Bobcats were no
match for the dominant
Behrend teamed pairs.
The Lions gave up only one
game in doubles action to Pitt
Greensburg's #1 doubles team
as Getty and Nasirli took their
match 8-1.
Behrend's #2 pair of sopho
more John Michalko and
Manning produced a shut-out
performance , as did Behrend's
#3 team of senior Brian Kaleta
and sophomore Jake Fling.
In singles matches the Lions
would again drop just one
game to the Bobcats.
Blackstone was victorious as
he went 6-1, 6-0 in the #1 sin
gles match. Meanwhile
Mosier, Henderson, Nagel,
Bissert, and sophomore Jason
Grosch would each deliver
shut-out performances.
Asked what he could possi
bly do to get better after such
Connor
Louis
Uconn
Uconn
Purdue Purdue Rutgers
Wash. Wash. Wash
Toronto Toronto Toronto
Philly Philly Philly
San Jose San Jose San Jose San Jose
Detriot Detriot Detriot Detriot
SPORTS
By Shawn Annarelli
contributing writer
smaslB9(o psu.edu
great early success Blackstone
did not hesitate to respond.
"I've got to take greater
advantage of approach shots
and my footwork is sloppy,"
said Blackstone.
Getty has confidence in his
teammate and himself for the
remainder of the season.
"We are a very close team
and we are extremely competi
tive with each other," says
Getty. "There is nothing worse
than losing to someone at prac
tice whether it's actual match
play or a drill. That makes for
some very spirited and fun
practices. We just need to keep
working hard at practice and
stay away from injuries."
Blackstone feels that their
goal is to repeat as AMCC
champions.
"We have the ability to play
with people at practices that
are better than the people we
are going to play during con
ference play. The main thing
for us to be able to repeat as
AMCC champions is perform
the way we know we can at the
tournament. I have all the con
fidence in the world that we
can win it again."
Penn State Behrend's next
match will be at home against
(2-0, 1-0) Alfred University on
March 27 at 5 p.m.
Rachel
Mi. St
Uconn
A&M
Rutgers
Wash
Toronto
Philly
Edmon. Edmon
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Christine
Mi. St
Kansas
Louis
Louis
Uconn
Uconn
A&M
Purdue
Wash
Toronto
Philly
San Jose
Detriot
two AMCC rivals
Sophomore Elliot Blackstone is ready for the serve
r THIS
SPORTS
FRIDAY, MARCH 27
The Softball team plays at AMCC opponent, Mt. Aloysius, at
1 p.m.
The Men's Tennis team plays a home match against Alfred
at 5 p.m.
The Women's Water Polo team competes in the Junker
Center against Utica at 8 p.m.
The Men's and Women's Track & Field stall their outck)or season
at the Bill Van Home Invitational in Wheeling., WV.
SATURDAY, MARCH 28
The second day of the Bill Van Horne Invitational continues
for the Men's and Women's Track R Field team.
The Women's Water Polo team plays Chatham
'e Men's Tennis team competes against Frostburg
State at 5 p.m.
The Baseball team has a home game against Nit
Aloysius at 1 p.m.
SUNDAY, MARCH 29
Taking on Penn State Altoona, the Men's Tennis team corn
pets at home at 12:30 p.m.
The Softball team has their first regular season home
game against Frostburg State at 1 p.m.
The Women's Water Polo plays Mercyhurst at 9 a.m.
Following the Mercyhurst game, the team then com
pets against Gannon at 12 p.m.
TUESDAY, MARCH 31
The Softball team has another home game against Pitt-
Bradford at 3 p.m.
The Baseball team travels to Pitt-Bradford for a
1 p.m. game.
home games in bold
LAST WEEK'S
SATURDAY, MARCH 21
M. Tennis: Behrend 9 Pitt-Bradford 0
Baseball (DH): Behrend 3 Frostburg St. 2
Behrend 4 Frostburg St. 2
SATURDAY, MARCH 22
W Water Polo: Behrend 2 Washington & Jefferson 14
TUESDAY, MARCH 24
M. Tennis:Behrend 9 Pitt-Greensburg 0
Baseball: Behrend 5 Fredonia 6
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
Softball(DH): Behrend 13 Medaille 1
Behrend 12 Medaille 0
Baseball (DH): Behrend 13 Medaille 2
Behrend 4 Medaille 4
All scores based from Sports Calendar and individual team page results. If your
sport is not listed and you feel that it should be. contact cisso6o(a,psti.edu
Friday, March 27, 2009
WEEK ' S 11
MmuuM
at 12 p.m
SPORTS
All wins in italic text
CONTRIBUTED MOTU