HONOLULU, Hawai`i—Two rivals that had to wait nearly two months to square off since their first scheduled match was rained out, finally took to the courts against each other on Saturday, and the result was sweet to the tasting for the visiting team from the Big Island.

No. 22 nationally ranked Hawai`i Hilo edged No. 3 Hawai`i Pacific, 4-2 during an afternoon clash on a hot afternoon at the Ala Moana Tennis Courts. Soon after the clinching match was in the books, the Vulcans sprinted across the street and into the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean to celebrate.

The verdict leaves both teams with 10-3 records. That was the final regular season match for the Vulcans before the Pacific West Conference Championships, April 18-20 in Surprise, Arizona. The Sharks will still play three matches in Florida before arriving in the Phoenix area.

No official PacWest standings are kept for tennis, although the Vulcans and Sharks unofficially share two of the top three spots in the conference. The other belongs to Azusa Pacific (19-1), who beat the Vulcans but lost to the Sharks.

The Vulcans got the all-important doubles point to begin the match. Playing together for the first time this year, Vaclav Slezak and Martin Soukal won at No. 1 doubles (6-4) over the No. 4 ranked team in the country—Valentin Masse and Maxine Gayte. Luca Checchia and Alan Cincunegui won at No. 3 by the same score (6-4) to clinch the team point.

In singles play Alessandro Giuliato picked up a win at No. 2, defeating Ondrej Ctverak, 6-3, 7-5. But the Sharks picked up two wins of their own by winning on court four and court five, to tie the match at 2-2.

No. 12 Slezak and No. 19 Masse were going toe-to-toe on court one. Slezak won the first set (6-2), Masse the second (6-4), and the HPU lefty seemed to be on his way to victory with a 4-1 lead in the third. But Slezak, the senior from the Czech Republic, fought back to tie the match at 5-5. He would switch the momentum, eventually working his way to a tiebreaker and winning, 7-2.

Soukal pocketed the clinching victory for UHH, winning in three sets on court three over Cheng-Chieh Wang, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3.

The two teams were scheduled to play back in February in Kona, but were rained out.

"That was a satisfying win for us, obviously," said Vulcan interim coach Kallen Mizuguchi. "After losing 4-3 to Azusa Pacific a few weeks ago, it was good to be in a similar situation and learn from it. We played really well under pressure."

#22 Hawai`i Hilo 4, #3 Hawai`i Hilo 2
Singles competition
1. #12 Vaclav Slezak def. #19 Valentin Masse (HPU), 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2).
2. #17 Alessandro Giuliato (UHH) def. Ondrej Ctverak (HPU), 6-3, 7-5.
3. #42 Martin Soukal (UHH) def. Cheng-Chieh Wang (HPU), 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3.
4. #66 Benjamine Loccisano (HPU) def. Chun En Wu (UHH), 6-4, 6-0.
5. # 29 Maxine Gayte (HPU) def. Arturo Dell`Eva (UHH) 6-3, 6-4.
6. Luca Checchia (UHH) vs. Lukas Bauer (HPU), 6-4, 1-2, UNF.

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

Doubles competition
1. Slezak/Soukal (UHH) def. #4 Gayte/Masse (HPU), 6-4. 
2. Giuliato/En Wu (UHH) vs. Bauer/Wang (HPU), 4-5, UNF.
3. Checchia,/Alan Cincunegui (UHH) def. Loccisano/Ctverak (HPU), 6-4.   

Doubles order of finish: 1-3.

Records: No. 22 Hawai`i Hilo 10-3, No. 3 Hawai`i Pacific 10-3.