LORETTO — The Saint Francis University women’s tennis team won its first Northeast Conference championship in its final season in the league recently and now awaits its spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Saint Francis earned a 4-0 win over FDU in the NEC final. It was SFU’s 70th NEC title overall as an athletic department.

The women’s tennis team has several Blair County ties as it is coached by former Altoona Area High School coach Eric Hovan. Hovan spent 24 years at AAHS and is in his fifth season at Saint Francis, coaching the men and women’s teams.

Hovan coached 45 individual district champions at Altoona and helped eventual Rutgers commit Caitlin Baker win the 2006 PIAA Class 3A girls singles championship.

In addition to its coach, Saint Francis has Hollidaysburg graduate Gretta Rhodes and Central graduate Julia Ritchey on its roster, and both have seen action in both doubles and singles play this season.

The team, which will find out where it will play next during the NCAA Selection Show this afternoon, trains at the Ebensburg Tennis Center.

Freshman Helena Lynn, who won her match during the championship win, now holds the program record for the most wins in a single season after earning her 28th victory.

SFU won the championship after falling in last year’s NEC title match.

Flash nets title

LORETTO — The Saint Francis men’s volleyball team defeated FDU 3-1 in the NEC championship match Saturday for its first NEC Tournament title, 71st as an athletic department and could be last as a Division I program.

It was the fourth-straight year that the Flash were in the NEC championship, but the first time that they won the title.

“Boy did FDU bring it today,” Saint Francis coach Mike Rumbaugh said. “I’m so impressed with how they played. The scouting report was dead on with us. Jamal Ellis was unbelievably good. I thought FDU deserved a big round of applause. I’m really glad that our guys rose to the challenge and fought hard to get that win. FDU did not give it to us.”

Saint Francis is one of 12 teams competing in the NCAA Tournament and will begin play at 10 p.m. on Friday against Loyola Chicago, at Long Beach State. The winner of the SFU-Loyola Chicago match will face host Long Beach State, the No. 3 seed, at 9 p.m. on Saturday.

The semifinals and finals are set for May 9 and 11 in Los Angeles.

PSU prevails

UNIVERSITY PARK — The No. 16 Penn State men’s volleyball team swept Princeton 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18) in the EIVA Championship on Saturday at Rec Hall.

The Nittany Lions secured their fourth-straight EIVA Tournament title and the 38th in program history.

Penn State upped its record to 22-7 overall with its 11th-straight win and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Princeton saw its four-match winning streak come to an end as it closed the season at 9-15 overall.

Penn State will begin play in the NCAA Tournament at 9 p.m. Friday against UC Irvine, at UCLA’s campus. The winner of Penn State and UC Irvine will then face host UCLA at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

The semifinals and finals are set for May 9 and 11 in Los Angeles.

Sean Harvey, who was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, hit .308 with 12 kills, six digs, five blocks, and one ace. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Owen Rose, who hit .909 with 10 kills and five blocks, and Jaxon Herr, who tallied 36 assists while leading the team to .398 hitting. Gaige Gabriel was also strong offensively with seven kills on .636 hitting.

Ryan Merk fueled the defensive effort with 13 digs. Matthew Luoma tallied eight digs.