DEFIANCE, Ohio -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology improved to 7-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's tennis action with a 9-0 shutout victory over Defiance College on Saturday afternoon.

The Fightin' Engineers set up a showdown match with Earlham College, the other unbeaten team in the HCAC, next Saturday at Rose-Hulman for the league regular season championship.  The match begins at noon.

Rose-Hulman also clinched a first-round bye in the HCAC Tournament with Saturday's win.  The Fightin' Engineers will face either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed in the conference tournament on May 6 at 1 p.m.

Rose-Hulman stands 16-7 overall and 7-0 in HCAC play, with all seven conference wins by perfect 9-0 scores.  Defiance stands 9-9 overall and 3-3 in league matches.

Singles winners on Saturday included Georges Adam, Brandon Benedict, Cam Metzger, Andre Adam, Austin Perry and Andrew Schiffman.  In doubles action, the teams included Georges Adam and Benedict; Andre Adam and Metzger; and Brendan Goldacker with Joe Kendall.

Rose-Hulman has two matches remaining prior to the HCAC Tournament, hosting Earlham on April 29 and traveling to top 10 ranked Washington University on April 30.