The UH-Hilo men’s tennis used a bottom-heavy performance to help it play for the top spot at the PacWest Conference championships.
The Vulcans defeated Azusa Pacific 4-1 in the semifinals Friday in Arizona, where the Vuls will battle rival Hawaii Pacific for the title on Saturday.
It was a revenge win for the Vulcans who lost to the Cougars 4-3 at Azusa on March 27. No. 17 UHH (12-3) likely clinched an NCAA tournament berth.
In singles, UHH got wins from No. 3 Martin Soukal, No. 5 Artur Dell’Eva and No. 6 Luca Checchia and Vaclav Slezak/Souka won in doubles.
“I really happy with the way our team fought through today,” coach Kallen Mizuguchi said. “From 1-6, we really battled. We won the doubles point as well, something that we didn’t do the last time we played them. We need to rest up and get ready for another really, really tough match against HPU.”
Saturday’s match between the Vulcans and Sharks will be the second time that the two rivals have squared off this month. On April 6 on Oahu, UH-Hilo won a razor-thin 4-2 match against the then-No. 3 ranked Sharks.
Singles
1. #22 Jakob Schnaitter (APU) def. #9 Vaclav Slezak (UHH), 6-4, 6-1.
2. #24 Alessandro Giuliato (UHH) vs. Ryan Nuno (APU), 6-4, 4-6, 4-5, UNF.
3. #50 Martin Soukal (UHH) def. Leyton Bohren (APU), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3).
4. Chun En Wu (UHH) vs. Jesse Haas (APU), 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 4-1, UNF.
5. Arturo Dell`Eva (UHH) def. Dillon Barnard (APU), 6-4, 6-4.
6. Luca Checchia (UHH) def. Maxine Pluim (APU), 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.
Doubles
1. Slezak/Soukal (UHH) def. Schnaitter/Haas (APU), 6-3.
2. Giuliato/Wu (UHH) vs. Nuno/Bohren (APU), 4-5, UNF.
3. Checchia/Alan Cincunegui (UHH) def. Ethan Smith/Marnix Pluim (APU), 6-4
