LEBANON, Illinois - The Salem men's water polo team traveled to Lebanon, IL on Friday of the previous week to take part in three conference games against Mercyhurst, Gannon and McKendree. The team had great success on their first day stealing wins from both Mercyhurst and Gannon. Their score against Mercyhurst being 24-13 and they won 18-16 against Gannon. Despite a great opening day, the tigers were not able to perform the same against McKendree, taking a 14-23 loss.
 
Salem Vs. Mercyhurst (24-13)
The tigers came out with a strong attack in the first quarter of the Mercyhurst game scoring 6 goals to the lakers 2. The men kept up their momentum throughout the game increasingly putting distance between themselves and Mercyhurst – the final score being 24-13. Ivan Zivojinovic and Nikola Cvetkovic scored 6 goals a piece. Reabetswe Theledi and Marko Zivojinovic each added 4 goals to the board. Blake Wind scored 3 for the tigers and Manuel Soto Estela tallied 1 goal.
 
Salem Vs. Gannon (18-16)
Salem's second game proved to be more difficult. The tigers trailed Gannon for three quarters of the game. The knights scored 10 goals in the first half to Salem's 7. At the end of the third quarter Salem had crept closer scoring 13 goals to Gannon's 14. In the last quarter the men showed off their endurance and scored 5 goals to gannons 2 taking the lead when it mattered, putting them above Gannon 18-16. Nikola Cvetkovic led the tigers with 7 total goals and three assists. Ivan Zivojinovic tallied 5 goals and Marko Zivojinovic was closely behind him scoring 4. Blake Wind Rounded the team out scoring 2.

Salem Vs. McKendree (14-23)
The third game of the weekend took a toll on the tigers and they were unable to keep up with McKendree. Salem came out strong in the first quarter of the game leading 5 goals to the bearcats 2. McKendree took charge of the game after this quarter and even Salem's best efforts weren't quite enough to catch them that day, they finished the game with 14 goals to 23. Marko Zivojinovic led the tigers in this game with a total of 7 goals, Ivan Zivojinovic was behind him with 3 total goals. Blake wind tallied 2 goals for the tigers. Nikola Cvetkovic and Manuel Soto Estella both scored 1 goal.
 
Even though Salem took a loss against McKendree this still has them higher in their MAWPC conference standings than each of the three teams. Salem currently sits 5^th out of 11 on the standings, ranked 1 below Wagner College and 1 above the United States Naval Academy. This ranking means that the weekend of the 18^th at their conference championships the men will take on Wagner college as their first game.