Vulcans advance to first PacWest title match

SURPRISE, Ariz.—Mark down April 20, 2018 as a historical day in the University of Hawai`i Hilo men's tennis program.

The Vulcans defeated Concordia, 5-0, in the semi-finals of the Pacific West Conference Championship, to advance for the first time to the tournament championship match. They will meet up with Azusa Pacific in the title bout at 1:30 p.m.

"The men have worked so hard to get to this point," said UHH head coach Tina McDermott. "Sometimes despite the scores, every match in this conference is a battle. We have had a tough schedule and have had to fight for every match. It will obviously be like that tomorrow as well."

The Vulcans improved to 16-1 on the season. Azusa Pacific is 24-2. The title match will feature the No. 9 ranked team in the country (UHH) versus the No. 14 Cougars. The Vulcans won (7-2) when the two teams met at Azusa in March, but the match was much closer than the score would indicate.

"It will be a great match," McDermott added. "Two really good teams will play for the title."

Today against Concordia (8-12), the Vulcans swept the double matches to push the Eagles into a corner. Gregory Zukeran and Chun En Wu got the Vulcans on the board first (8-4) on court three, with the No. 1 team of Vaclav Slezak and Alessandro Guiliato checking in as the next winners, 8-6, over Florian Mayer and Daniel Reddman.

The drama came on court two where Bruno Figlia and Alex Fillat Perez rallied back for a 8-7 (7-3) win over Nakita Katsnelson and Shimon Murakami. The Concordia duo had led 7-6 before the Vulcan team roared back to take the pro-set in a tie-breaker.

That gave UH Hilo a 3-0 lead, and they needed just two singles wins to clinch the match in the tournament scoring format. Giuliato made that happen first with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Joseph Bray at No. 2, followed by Slezak's 6-1, 6-2 victory over Mayer on court one.

While this will be UH Hilo's first-ever trip to the PacWest tournament final, it will be Azusa Pacific's fifth straight. They lost all five of those title matches to Hawai`i Pacific. Today in the other semi-finals, the Cougars defeated Point Loma, 5-1.

Both the Vulcans and Cougars, currently ranked No. 1 and 2 respectively in the NCAA west region rankings, will likely (but unofficially) both host a regional match the first week of May.
 
Hawai`i Hilo 5, Concordia 0
Friday, April 20, 2018, Surprise Tennis and Racquet Center

Singles

1. #28 Vaclav Slezak (UHH) def. Florian Mayer (CUI), 6-1, 6-2.
2. #55 Alessandro Giuliato (UHH) def. Joseph Bray (CUI), 6-2, 6-1.
3. Chun En Wu (UHH) vs. Nakita Katsnelson (CUI), 7-5, 0-1, unfinished.
4. Alex Fillat Perez (UHH) vs. Daniel Reddman (CUI), 3-6, 1-1, ufinished.
5. Arturo Dell`eva (UHH) vs. Thomas Kyle (CUI), 2-6, 6-3, unfinished.
6. Gregory Zukran (UHH) vs. Man Hon Ko (CUI), 6-6 (2-4).

Doubles

1. Slezak\Giuliato (UHH) def. Mayer\Reddmann (CUI), 8-6.
2. Fillat Perez\Bruno Figlia (UHH) def. Shimon Murakami\Katsnelson (CUI), 8-7 (7-3).
3. Zukeran\Wu (UHH) def. Kyle\Hon Ko (CUI), 8-4.

Season Records: UH Hilo 16-1, Concordia 8-12