NEWBURGH, N.Y. – In a near duplicate of last year's Skyline Conference semifinal match, Mount Saint Mary College edged St. Joseph's College, 5-4, in the last regular season conference match for both teams.  The Knights improve to 9-7 overall and qualify as the third seed in next week's conference tournament with a league mark of 4-2.

The decisive point came once again from sophomore Stat Willand (Sparta, N.J.) in three sets.  This year at second singles, Willand dropped the opening set in a tiebreak before rallying for a 6-1 in set number two.  Tied at 4-4 in the third set, Willand earned a key break of serve and then served out the match at love to nail down the match for the Knights.

MSMC did its damage at the bottom of the lineup, claiming singles points at four, five, and six.  Senior Mike McNicholas (Milton, N.Y.) dominated at fourth singles (6-2, 6-0), as did senior Zach Conlon (Huntington, N.Y.) at fifth (6-0, 6-0).  Freshman Conor Merryman (Marlboro, N.Y.) closed his match by winning the final nine game to prevail, 6-3, 6-0.

Conlon and Merryman provided the only doubles point for the Mount with an 8-1 victory at third.  St. Joseph's claimed the points at first and second doubles, winning each match by a score of 8-6.

The Knights are scheduled to play Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham in non-conference action on Monday.  They'll then head to second-seeded Farmingdale State College to take on the Rams in the conference tournament semifinals on Thursday.