The Penn State Men's Tennis team could not have opened its season in a more successful fashion.

The squad won each of its 18 matches at the Navy Fall Invitational in Annapolis, Md. this past weekend.

After two solid weeks of practice and challenge matches, the team opened competition on Saturday when they defeated UNC- Greensboro, 9-0. They closed out the tournament with a 9-0 win over Navy, to seal the win and the invitational title.

"The overall team effort was pretty good," Penn State men's tennis coach Jan Bortner said. "Some of those things we've been working on in practice paid off."

All eight players contributed to the three victories in doubles play and six wins in singles competition against UNC-Greensboro.

Roddy Cantey, Clint Keithly, Mark Barry, and Malcolm Scatliffe competed in both doubles and singles play.

In addition, Ryan Berger and Todd Stecko played singles for the Nittany Lions during the tournament.

Aaron Ellis and Bradley Hunter also competed as a team in doubles play.

"This weekend was a good way to warm up and get things going," Keithly said.

"It was good to start on a positive note."

Despite its victory on Saturday, Penn State knew it had to bring its play up a notch when facing Navy, who had defeated UNC-Greensboro.

Their relentless effort and stamina resulted in a 9-0 win.

"There was an urgency to play harder," Ellis said. "We knew we had to produce better results."

Bortner said the matches against Navy were very beneficial because all eight players had the opportunity to compete in both singles and doubles.

As for strategy and play, Bortner was more than happy with his team's performance during the invitational.

He said the team's focus on serving and returning serves in practice produced positive results at the tournament.

Bortner was also pleased with the chemistry that all of the duos have possessed in doubles play during the entire tournament.

"This tournament boosted our confidence a lot," Ellis said.

"Now we have to prepare for tougher competition at the ECAC."

The next few weeks of practice will be devoted to preparing for ECAC play.

In those matches, the team will face some top-ranked teams and solid competition, which will test the lessons they learned.

"Now we have to get down to business," Bortner said.

"We want to go out there and play our best at the ECAC competition."