ANNVILLE, Pa.  – After losing the doubles point, Lebanon Valley stormed back to win five of six singles matches en route to a 5-2 win over Messiah College in Commonwealth Conference men's tennis action Saturday afternoon at the LVC Tennis Courts.

LVC won its fifth straight match to open the season while Messiah fell to 1-1 overall and in the conference.

The Falcons got off to a 1-0 lead after winning both the second and third doubles matches. Junior Ryan Wendell (Shiloh, N.J./Cumberland Regional) and freshman Stuart Hartman (Hershey, Pa./Lower Dauphin) claimed LVC's lone doubles win and improved to 5-0 on the season after picking up an 8-4 victory at the No. 1 slot.

In singles play, Wendell won 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 1 position while freshman Erik Vargo (Lititz, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) won 7-5, 6-0 at third singles to improve to 5-0 on the season. Also winning his fifth straight match to start the season was senior Andy Platt (York, Pa./York Suburban), who earned a 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 win at fourth singles. Hartman won 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 at fifth singles to improve to 4-1 in 2004 while junior Zach Cook (Schaefferstown, Pa./ELCO) grabbed a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles while pushing his season record to 4-0.

Lebanon Valley return to action on Sunday when it visits King's College in a MAC non-conference match starting at 1 p.m.

Singles
1. Ryan Wendell (LV) def. Jon Wentling, 6-4, 6-4
2. Jon Stanley (M) def. Chris Keeney, 6-1, 6-1
3. Erik Vargo (LV) def. Danny May, 7-5, 6-0
4. Andy Platt (LV) def. Steve Hearn, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1
5. Stuart Hartman (LV) def. Matt Bucher, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4
6. Zach Cook (LV) def. Evan Cameron, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1

Doubles
1. Hartman/Wendell (LV) def. Wentling/Hearn, 8-4
2. Stanley/Cameron (M) def. Vargo/Platt, 8-2
3. May/Bucher (M) def. Keeney/Saming Rattanavongkoth, 8-1

[Photo - Freshman Stuart Hartman, who won at both No. 5 singles and No. 1 doubles on Saturday against Messiah]

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