EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Southern Indiana men's tennis team tightened its grip on first place in the GLVC with a 9-0 win over Bellarmine University Tuesday afternoon at the USI Tennis Courts. USI goes over the .500 mark for the first time in 2004-05 at 7-6 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the GLVC, while Bellarmine falls to 2-9 overall, 2-3 GLVC.

The Screaming Eagles go on the road this weekend to try and capture the GLVC regular season crown and the number one seeding in the upcoming conference tournament April 15-16. Any combination of two USI victories or University of Indianapolis and Northern Kentucky losses will give the Eagles the regular season crown.

The Eagles finish the conference regular season this week at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Friday and at Quincy University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Saturday.

USI holds the tie-breaker over NKU and Indianapolis by sweeping them at home to begin conference play in March. NKU, 4-1 in the GLVC, hosts Indianapolis, 3-1 in the GLVC, Wednesday in Highland Heights.

In Tuesday's sweep of Bellarmine, the new USI doubles combinations continued to roll with three wins over the Knights. Sophomore Joe Epkey (Greenwood, Indiana) and junior Ryan Hughes(England) at number one freshman Jarrod Epkey (Greenwood, Indiana) and senior Kyle Taylor (Veedersburg, Indiana) at number two and seniors Nim Shetty (India) and Evan Luttrell(Logansport, Indiana) are 13-1 since being paired together for conference play. 

In singles action, USI was a perfect 6-0 with six straight-set victories. Shetty, Hughes, and Taylor led the way with 6-0, 6-1 wins at number three, four, and six singles, respectively.

Ray Simmons, USI Sports Information