HONOLULU, Hawai`i--UH Hilo provided the grit but No. 1 nationally ranked Hawai`i Pacific showed their mettle on Thursday afternoon during a men's tennis match at the Kailua Racquet Club.
On paper, it looks like an easy 8-1 win for the defending national champion Sharks, who improved to 8-4 on the season, while the Vulcans fell to 4-8. But it was anything but that.
The Vulcans picked up their long win at No. 2 doubles when
Bruno Figlia and
Alex Fillat Perez won, 8-4. But their were five other matches that the Sharks won that could have gone either way.
UHH's No. 1
Vaclav Slezak went deep into a third set tie-breaker before falling to the 13th ranked player in the country. Fillat Perez and
Gregory Zukeran lost close, hard fought matches at No. 2 and 3 singles, and the Vulcans lost two of their three doubles matches by the extra time scores of 9-7.
Slezak lost for only the second time all year (9-2), now both times to Filip Dolezel. When the two played in February, Dolezel won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. This time, the two fellow countrymen (Czech Republic) settled in for a marathon, with Dolezel finally prevailing 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 14-12.
"That was really quite a battle," said UHH head coach
Tina McDermott. "I think Vaclav has certainly proven in the early season that he is one of the top players in the west region."
The unranked sophomore transfer from Troy (Ala.) has now lost twice to No. 13 Dolezel but has also beaten the No. 23 and No. 36 players in the Fall ITA national rankings. The next listing comes out on March 22.
His match wasn't the only close one, in fact Slezak was also involved in one of the other razor-thin margin finishes. He and doubles teammate
Stefan Coney fell at No. 1 doubles to Dolezel and Jakub Hadrava, 9-7. The Vulcans' No. 3 doubles team of
Daniel Tada and Zukeran suffered the same scoring fate (9-7) to Juan Erro and Filip Soban. Additionally, Zukeran lost at No. 3 singles to Hadrava, 7-5, 6-4. At No. 2 singles, Fillat Perez lost to No. 34 nationally ranked Torbin Otto, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.
"It's been a long stretch of matches for us, and the guys really battled hard today," said McDermott, whose team just played seven matches in nine days on Oahu. "They fought hard against a great team."
The Vulcans will return home now and play two matches on the UH Hilo campus courts--on Monday (March 20) against California Lutheran and Tuesday vs. Carleton. Both matches will start at noon, and Monday's match will serve as UHH's Senior Day for both the men and women.
No. 1 HAWAI`I PACIFIC 8, UH HILO 1
Singles
1. Filip Dolezel (HPU) def.
Vaclav Slezak (UHH), 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 14-12.
2. Torbin Otto (HPU) def.
Alex Fillat Perez (UHH), 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.
3. Jakub Hadrava (HPU) def.
Gregory Zukeran (UHH), 7-5, 6-4.
4. Gerard Andres Rodriguez (HPU) def.
Stefan Coney (UHH), 6-3, 6-1.
5. Filip Soban (HPU) def.
Bruno Figlia (UHH), 6-3, 6-1.
6. Juan Erro (HPU) def.
Dillon Lam (UHH), 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles
1. Dolezel/Hadrava (HPU) def. Slezak/Coney, (UHH), 9-7.
2. Figlia/Fillat Perez (UHH) def. Otto/Jack Lyttle (HPU), 8-4.
3. Soban/Erro (HPU) def.
Daniel Tada/Zukeran (UHH), 9-7.
