MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The third-seeded Millersville men's tennis team is set to clash against the No. 2 seed Mercyhurst Lakers in the PSAC semifinals. The tournament begins Friday morning at 10 a.m. in Bloomsburg. 
 
The Marauders have compiled a 12–6 record this season, going 4–2 against PSAC opponents, and recorded their most wins in a season since the 2010-11 campaign. On the other side of the court, the Lakers are coming off a 13–4 regular season with a 5–1 in-conference record, their lone PSAC loss coming from the PSAC regular season champion Edinboro. The Lakers have had the Marauders number as of late, with Mercyhurst winning the last five meetings between the two teams going back to April of 2021. The Marauders last loss this season was also to Mercyhurst, but Millersville has bounced back rattling off eight wins in a row to close out the season.
 
The Marauders roster includes seven brand new players, all international student-athletes. Head coach Matt Helsel said the team had to play through a little bit of an adjustment period, both on the court and off the court. But once they found success, the team never stopped rolling.
 
"At one point during the spring, it all clicked, and they're playing really well, as were the guys that were already here," Helsel said. "I would like to think our momentum would carry over. We played Mercyhurst before, but that was early in the spring and indoors, this will be outdoors. We have a little bit of a different lineup; we have guys that are basically different players than they were back then."
 
Millersville is led by its senior duo of Dylan Tull and Zach Pernia. The tandem won their doubles match against Mercyhurst earlier in the season, and Tull earned the Marauders lone point in the dual with a 6–4, 6–3 win over Mercyhurst's top starter Danylo Rekun. Tull has accumulated an 11–4 record in the first flight of singles, and also won PSAC Athlete of the Week on April 9, while Pernia has backed him up in the second flight with an 8–7 record. Together, the pair is 11–5 in duals. The steadiness they've provided at the top has been much needed, but their presence has also helped the rest of the team to hit their stride at the right time.
 
"Those two, our only seniors, our only Americans, they've provided so much stability for us," Helsel said. "They've been crucial this year, and I couldn't have asked for a better example of leadership than what they've provided."

Additionally, Helsel listed Jasper de Koning as another catalyst for the Marauders winning streak. The junior from Netherlands has not dropped a singles match since the bout against Mercyhurst, and has built up a 10–4 record in doubles action in the spring season. Primarily working out of the back half of the starting lineup, de Koning's performance has resulted in a strong, well-rounded roster that can win on top-end talent and depth.

"It's not a coincidence that our current streak coincides with Jasper's permanent insertion into the lineup," Helsel said. "He's given us quite a boost with his consistent play, experience, and leadership."
 
With Tull and Pernia taking on the challenges at the top of the lineup and de Koning cleaning up competition at the bottom, the middle has been filled out by Lino Morin, Breno Maciel, and Valentin Ebner. Maciel and Ebner are currently riding winning streaks of six and seven respectively in singles ciompetition, while Morin's strong suit has been doubles action, where he owns a 7–3 record in the second flight playing alongside Sebas Castro. 

The two teams met a handful of times in the fall season as well, splitting singles and doubles matches in early tournaments. But Helsel believes this current version is ready to make a push in the PSAC Tournament and beyond. Both teams are ranked in the Atlantic region, Mercyhurst at No. 3 and Millersville at No. 6. Mercyhurst had a three-year streak of PSAC championships from 2017-2019, whereas Millersville has yet to win in the current tournament format, as their only other conference titles are from 1960 and 1985. As for Millersville tennis as a whole, it is also worth noting that for the fourth year in a row, the Marauders are the only program that have sent both their men's and women's squad to the conference semifinals.
 
The winner of this semifinals match will compete against the winner between the No. 1-seeded Edinboro Fighting Scots and No. 4-seeded Bloomsburg Huskies at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 4 at Bloomsburg.