The Lancaster Bible College men's tennis team won its first-ever North Eastern Athletic Conference Championship on Thursday, as the Chargers defeated Penn St. Abington, 5-4 at the Birchwood Tennis Center in Clarks Summit, Pa. The men's tennis program is the second Lancaster Bible program to win a NEAC Championship during the 2018-19 academic year, as the Lancaster Bible Men's Cross Country team also claimed the NEAC crown in October. The victory sends the Chargers to 9-3 overall this season, while the Nittany Lions dropped to 8-6.
 
Lancaster Bible will move onto next weekend's match with the winner of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC). The NEAC and NAC have an agreement in men's tennis since neither conference meets the minimum number of schools for an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, the conferences host a joint championship, with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Next weekend's match will be held at the Tri-City Tennis Club in Latham, N.Y. with doubles beginning at 11 a.m., and singles beginning after the completion of the doubles matches.
 
How it Happened: On Thursday, Lancaster Bible won two of the three doubles matches, as the No. 3 team of Yancy Butler and Derice Butler cruised to an 8-2 victory over Phil Belotserkovsky and Sebastian Krysztofow, and the No. 1 team of Luke Newberry and Keven Vallette earned a tough, 8-5 victory over Michael Litz and Phillip Antonoff. The No. 2 doubles team of Tyler Norris and Ming Bowser played well too, but came up just short, falling 8- 5 to Ilker Erkut and Jose Palomeque.
 
In singles action, Litz defeated Newberry at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-4, and Norris suffered a 6-1, 6-1 setback to Erkut, but Yancy Butler picked up a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles. Bowser won at No. 4 singles, defeating Belotserkovsky, 6-3, 6-2, and the Chargers earned their fifth point that clinched the team victory with Vallette's 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory at No. 5 singles. Derice Butler played well at No. 6 singles, but lost, 6-4, 6-3.
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible had never defeated the Nittany Lions prior to this season, but beat Penn St. Abington twice this year, and is now 2-8 all-time against the Nittany Lions…Vallette improved to 8-2 in singles play this season, while Bowser is 9-3 overall…The Butler brothers stayed perfect in doubles action, as they improved to 9-0 this season.
 
Up Next: Lancaster Bible will play in the aforementioned NEAC/NAC Championship with a chance to go to the NCAA Division III Tournament, next Sunday in Latham, N.Y…The NAC champion will be determined this weekend, and further information on the match will be available early next week…The individual portion of the NEAC Tournament will begin Thursday afternoon and conclude Friday morning.