SURPRISE, Ariz.--Hawai`i Hilo swept the doubles competition, creating an uphill too steep to climb for Concordia during a 5-2 Vulcans victory in the quarterfinals of the Pacific West Conference Men's Tennis Championships on Thursday at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
UH Hilo advances to the semi-finals on Friday, where they will play defending NCAA Division II champion Hawai`i Pacific at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Azusa Pacific and BYU-Hawaii will meet on the other side of the bracket.
The Vulcans rallied back to get the trifecta in doubles. On court three,
Daniel Tada and
Gregory Zukeran scored the first point of the day with a 8-4 victory, followed soon after by
Bruno Figlia and Alex Fillat Perez at No. 2 doubles, 8-5.
But on court one, the UHH tandem of
Stefan Coney and
Vaclav Slezak trailed No. 23 nationally ranked Till Guttenberger and Daniel Reddmann, 6-4, and then 7-6. Nonetheless, they rallied to tie the pro set at 8-8, and then captured the tie-breaker, 7-5.
In the NCAA tournament format, where the match stops as soon as a team reaches five wins, leading 3-0 going into singles play was huge.
"That was obviously very important for us," said UHH head coach
Tina McDermott. "Concordia is strong on the back end of the singles, so this helped take some of the pressure off."
On cue, the Eagles did win the first singles matches at No. 5 and No. 6 to claim two team points, but the Vulcans won as expected on the top two courts to clinch the match. Slezak defeated Guttenberger 6-1, 6-4, and Fillat Perez topped Sten Boersma, 6-1, 6-3. The other three matches, all going in favor of Concordia, were not completed.
With the victory, UH Hilo improved to 12-10 on the season, while Concordia dropped to 12-9. The Vulcans are ranked fifth in the west region and the Eagles are No. 6, but nationally Concordia is rated 23rd, ahead of No. 40 UH Hilo.
"Concordia is a tough opponent," McDermott added. "They defeated BYU-Hawaii earlier this year and gave us a very tough match last month." The Vulcans defeated the Eagles (6-3) during their late season California road trip.
The Vulcans have lost twice to Hawai`i Pacific this season, but a number of the matches were extremely close, all going in favor of the Sharks.
The winner of the PacWest Championships gets an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships.
#40 Hawaii Hilo 5, #23 Concordia 2
Apr 20, 2017 at Surprise, Ariz. (Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex)
| Singles competition |
| 1. #29 Vaclav Slezak (UHH) def. Till Guttenberger (CUI) 6-1, 6-4. |
| 2. Alex Fillat Perez (UHH) def. Sten Boersma (CUI) 6-1, 6-3. |
| 3. Gregory Zukeran (UHH) vs. Erik Witzlinger (CUI) 4-6, 1-4, unfinished. |
| 4. Stefan Coney (UHH) vs. Daniel Reddmann (CUI) 4-6, 3-3, unfinished. |
| 5. Man Hon Ko (CUI) def. Bruno Figlia (UHH) 6-3, 6-1. |
| 6. Thijs Hagen (CUI) def. Dillon Lam (UHH), 6-3, 6-2. |
| Match Notes |
| Concordia 12-9; National ranking #23; Regional ranking #6 |
| Hawaii Hilo 12-10; National ranking #40; Regional ranking #5 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5, 6, 1, 2) |
| PacWest Conference Championship Quarterfinal |
