NO. MANCHESTER, Ind. — Just one win away.

The Earlham College men's tennis team worked its way closer to a share of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title on Saturday with a pair of wins at Manchester College.

The Quakers posted an 8-1 win over the College of Mount St. Joseph and beat the host Spartans 9-0 for their sixth straight victory.

"Getting two wins was very good and it has put us in a great position to get the top seed in the conference tournament," Earlham Head Coach Adam Van Zee said.

The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology leads the HCAC race with a 7-1 mark, while Earlham and Transylvania University are both 6-1. Transylvania meets Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday in its regular season finale.

Earlham (14-3) is likely to play Hanover College on Friday at a yet to be determined site to close out the regular season with a chance to tie Rose-Hulman and Transylvania. The Quakers lead 2-0 the contest that was postponed due to weather on April 9. If Transylvania wins its final match, the Quakers would need just six wins against Hanover to earn the No. 1 spot in the HCAC Tournament that begins next Saturday in Indianapolis.

"We've got a target on our back since winning over Transylvania," Van Zee said. "We need to come out ready to play against everybody."

On Saturday against Mount St. Joseph, the Quakers were up 2-1 after doubles. Brad Maisey (Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, Tauranga Boys) and Mike Von Vogt (South Bristol, ME, Lincoln Academy) defeated Clayton Steinriede and Tyler Esham 8-4 at No. 2. Andrey Gavrilov (Yaroslavl, Russia, Universal) and Scott Lawrence (Letchworth, England, Cheam) beat Price Combs and Max Withrow 8-4 at No. 3.

In singles, Henry Levin (Dallas, TX, Highland Park) defeated Sandy Berry 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10-5) at No. 1. Gavrilov won 6-0, 6-1 over Steinriede at No. 2.

Maisey beat Kyle Smith 6-0, 6-3 at No. 3, while Lawrence blanked Withrow 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4.

At No. 5, Von Vogt defeated Esham 6-1, 6-2 and Johnny Kauffman (Goshen, IN, Bethany Christian) beat Matt Schmitton 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6.

Against Manchester, Earlham won all three doubles matches to grab an early advantage. Levin and Kauffman won 8-6 over Josh Walker and Collin Bishopp 8-6 at No. 1.

Maisey and Von Vogt teamed up again to beat Piero Ridoutt and Ramiro Arguijo 8-2 at No. 2. At No. 3, Gavrilov and and Lawrence defeated Chris Thomas and Phil Keim 8-2.

Earlham changed its lineup in singles against the Spartans as Gavrilov won 6-0, 6-0 over Ridoutt at No. 1. Maisey won 6-0, 6-0 over Walker at No. 2.

Lawrence played at No. 3 and won 6-1, 6-0 over Bishopp. At No. 4, Von Vogt won 6-0, 6-2 over Arguiro.

Kauffman defeated Thomas 6-2, 6-3 at No. 5, while George Bouchard (Glen Ellyn, IL, Glenbard South) picked up a 6-2, 6-1 win over Keim at No. 6.

Mount St. Joseph Box Score

Manchester Box Score