SURPRISE, Ariz.—For almost the entire season, the Hawai`i Hilo men's tennis team has counted on the top of their ladder to win matches, usually leaving the bottom half with an "unfinished" next to their score.

Not today.

The scenario flipped in Friday's Pacific West Conference semi-finals as the bottom half carried the Vulcans to a 4-1 win over Azusa Pacific, sending UH Hilo to the finals for the second consecutive year. On Saturday at 9 a.m. (Pacific time), the Vulcans will face off against island rival Hawai`i Pacific, who was an easy 4-0 winner over Concordia this morning.

The Vulcans took singles matches on courts three, five and six to claim the match, after also winning the doubles point.

It was a revenge victory for the Vulcans, who lost to the Cougars 4-3 in Azusa on March 27. The win improved No. 17 ranked UHH to 12-3 on the year, while No. 18 APU is now 23-3. The win also likely clinched an NCAA tournament berth for the Vulcans and unofficially a hosting opportunity for a first round west region match.

The Vulcans grabbed the early doubles point (which went the other way at Azusa), with Vaclav Slezak and Martin Soukal taking a 6-3 win at No. 1. On court three, Luca Checchia and Alan Cincunegui clinched the team point with a 6-4 victory.

In singles play, APU evened the match with a win on court one when the PacWest Player of the Year, Jakob Schnaitter, topped Slezak, 6-4, 6-1. The Vulcans grabbed the lead back with Arturo Dell`Eva won on court five, 6-4, 6-4 over Dillon Barnard.

The tension was thick on the other four courts after that. Soukal was the first player to break through in a battle of the two top freshmen in the conference, winning in a pair of tiebreakers over Leyton Bohren, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3). That gave the Vulcans a 3-1 lead, with UH Hilo up a set and in a second-set tiebreaker on courts four and six.

If either Chun En Wu (court four) and Checchia (court six) could have won their respective breakers, the Vulcans win early. But the Cougars fought back to win both, sending those two matches to a third set.

Meanwhile, UHH's No. 2, undefeated Alessandro Giuliato, was in a war with Ryan Nuno, whom the Vulcan star beat easily in Azusa. But not today. After Giuliato won the first set, Nuno came back to win the second and they were on serve in the third.

Enter the back of the line-up. With Giuliato on the ropes, Checchia won the clincher in the third set (6-3), and Wu was not far behind (4-1) after an APU medical timeout. That left Wu's and Giuliato's matches unfinished, but also left the Vulcans as the winners.

The match took three hours and 20 minutes to complete.

 "I really happy with the way our team fought through today," said head coach Kallen Mizuguchi. "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.
 
Pacific West Conference Championships, Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club, Surprise, Ariz.
#2 Hawai`i Hilo 4, #3 Azusa Pacific 1

Singles competition
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.

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

Doubles competition
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.

Doubles order of finish: 1-3

Records: No. 17 Hawai`i Hilo 12-3, #18 Azusa Pacific 23-3