Jaime Gresh led the Lions again this weekend, defeating both American University's Bence Hamori (6-1,6-3) and Toledo's Dipesh Rao (6-3,6-3), maintaining his 4-0 singles record.

Gresh, the men's tennis team's No. 1 singles player, dispatched of Hamori with his steady play on Saturday, while he overpowered Rao with his serve on his way to victory Sunday.

"The prime aspect of my game is consistency," Gresh said, "to put pressure on the other guy to make shots."

Gresh quickly polished off Hamori after having combined with senior Damon Accardi to beat American's No. 1 doubles combination of Hamori and Tushar Garg.

Men's tennis coach Jan Bortner said Gresh's victories were integral to the Lions' victory against American.

"It's always big when winning the doubles and netting a quick singles win," Bortner said.

The Lions' point they earned for sweeping the three doubles' matches helped propel them to a 6-1 triumph against American. Against Toledo, the Rockets garnered the doubles point by a 2-1 margin as Gresh and Accardi lost at No. 1 and the team of Brad Nudell and Michael Andersen fell as No. 3. Penn State won the match by a narrower 4-3 margin.

"It's always huge to win doubles," Bortner said.

"It was the difference between the matches."

Gresh's singles match was the first to end of the four singles matches taking place simultaneously at the Sarni Tennis Center. Gresh's singles match was one of the first to finish Sunday as well.

"It gives everyone more confidence if you can go out and a get a quick win," Gresh said.

"When you have a guy at No. 1 who you think can compete in every match, he's given this team a lot of confidence," Accardi said.

Accardi also said Gresh's wins give his teammates the belief that they can beat their opponents at their respective singles positions.

Gresh's teammates have fed off him in a large way as the Lions have jumped out to a 4-0 start themselves this season. The Lions, currently ranked No. 60 in the nation by the ITA, defeated Florida State, ranked No. 42 at the time, and Virginia Tech, who played Penn State when they were No. 52 in the nation.

Gresh is finding different ways to win this season, which evidences his confidence in his overall game. Gresh used touch forehands and steady play off both his backhand and forehand sides to defeat Hamori while he slammed serves at Rao on his way to victory.

"I'm playing with a lot more confidence, and I've been playing more aggressive," Gresh said.

Gresh's confidence has only increased since he defeated Florida State's Alex Herrera (6-4, 6-4) and Virginia Tech's Davor Dupljak (6-2, 3-6, 6-2). Gresh said he thinks he can keep winning once Big Ten competition starts.

Said Gresh: "I want to get in the (ITA) top 100, then get a ranking as high as I can get."