ANNVILLE, Pa.  – The Lebanon Valley College men’s tennis team clinched its fourth straight playoff berth after defeating Albright 5-2 in the Commonwealth Conference finale for both teams Tuesday afternoon at the LVC Tennis Courts.

Lebanon Valley (7-8, 4-3 CC) finished third in the final conference standings to earn the three seed in the first-ever Commonwealth Conference playoffs. The Flying Dutchmen will visit two seed Messiah on Thursday at a time to be announced in the conference semifinals.

Elizabethtown won the regular season Commonwealth Conference title to earn the top seed in the tournament and will host four seed Albright (4-11, 3-4 CC) on Thursday. The semifinal winners will meet at the highest remaining seed in the Commonwealth Conference championship match on Saturday.

Lebanon Valley has now qualified for the MAC or Commonwealth Conference playoffs in seven of the last nine years.

The Dutchmen got off to a 1-0 lead after earning the doubles point. Sophomores Stu Hartman and Zach Kaufman won 9-7 at No. 1 doubles while freshman Shawn Becker and sophomore Erik Vargo prevailed by an identical score at No. 2 as the pair improved to 4-1.

In singles play, LVC won four of six matches, as Hartman, Kaufman, and Becker were all double-winners. Hartman won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles while Kaufman earned a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3. Becker pushed his season record to 10-5 with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 5 while senior Sean Weir won 6-4, 7-6 at No. 6.

SINGLES
1. Jeremy Speicher (A) def. Erik Vargo, 6-1, 6-1
2. Stu Hartman (LV) def. David Scherler, 6-1, 6-2
3. Zach Kaufman (LV) def. Anthony Checchio, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
4. Ian Matlack (A) def. Zach Cook, 6-1, 6-4
5. Shawn Becker (LV) def. Tim Lauro, 6-1, 6-3
6. Sean Weir (LV) def. Jeff Sussman, 6-4, 7-6

DOUBLES
1. Hartman/Kaufman (LV) def. Speicher/Scherler, 9-7
2. Becker/Vargo (LV) def. Matlack/Lauro, 9-7
3. Checchio/Sussman (A) def. Cook/Henry, 8-5

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