SAN DIEGO, Calif.—On a beautiful day at arguably the prettiest tennis courts in the country, the Hawai`i Hilo men defeated host Point Loma, 7-0 on Friday afternoon. But that wasn't the most interesting part.

For the sake of the game of tennis, the best thing about Friday's match was the fact that coaches Kallen Mizuguchi (UHH) and Curt Wheeler (PLNU) agreed to go old school and play out the matches. That meant that fans got to see a tremendous bout to completion between two of the best players in the west region—Point Loma's Thomas Dafcik and UH Hilo's Vaclav Slezak.

With the all other matches in the books, Slezak edged previously undefeated Dafcik in a third-set super tiebreaker, 6-3, 1-6, 10-7. Slezak, ranked No. 21 in NCAA Division II, trailed 6-3 in the tiebreaker to No. 19 Dafcik, before rallying back to score five straight points to go ahead 8-6, eventually winning, 10-7.

It was a match filled with blistering shots from baseline to baseline, with the occasional venture to the net and a few well-placed drop shots. Slezak improved to 8-2 on the season, and Dafcik is now 8-1.

That epic duel wrapped up a day that saw the Vulcans win three close doubles matches and all six singles encounters. Slezak and Alessandro Giuliato edged Dafcik and Yuki Okamoto on court one (7-5), while Martin Soukal and Chun En Wu nipped Scott Wheeler and Tim Soderman on court two, 7-6 (7-2). On court three, Luca Checchia and Alan Cincunegui triumphed over Mark Penner and Mark Vasat, 6-4.

In singles play, Giuliato was the first one off the court and improved to 10-0 on the season with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Soderman. Martin also won in straight sets on court three over Wheeler (6-4, 6-4) to move to 8-1 on the year.

Wu won a three-set, energetic battle on court four over Vasat, 3-6, 6-2, 10-7, Checchia triumphed on court five over Jasdeep Paintal (6-2, 6-3) and Cincunegui won on six, 6-0, 6-4 over Penner.

UH Hilo improved to 8-3 on the year with the victory, and the Sea Lions are now 5-6 on the year. The Vulcans will wrap up five matches in six days with a match on Saturday at noon at UC San Diego.
 
Hawai'i Hilo 7, Point Loma 0
Singles competition
1. #21 Vaclav Slezak (UHH) def. #19 Thomas Dafcik (PL), 6-3, 1-6, 10-7.
2. #32 Alessandro Giuliato (UHH) def. Tim Soderman (PL), 6-1, 6-1.
3. #50 Martin Soukal (UHH) def. Scott Wheeler (PL), 6-4, 6-4.
4. Chun En Wu (UHH) def. Mark Vasat (PL), 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.
5. Luca Checchia (UHH) def. Jasdeep Paintal (PL), 6-2, 6-3.
6. Alan Cincunegui (UHH) def. Mark Penner (PL), 6-0, 6-4.


Singles order of finish: 2-6-5-3-4-1

Doubles competition
1. Slezak/Giuliato (UHH) def. Dafcik/Yuki Okamoto (PL), 7-5.
2. Soukal/En Wu (UHH) def. Wheeler/Soderman (PL), 7-6 (7-2).
3. Checchia,/Cincunegui (UHH) def. Penner/Vasat (PL), 6-4.     

Doubles order of finish: 1-2-3

Records: Hawai'i Hilo 8-3, Point Loma 5-6