(photo courtesy of PLNU's Nicholas Mathey)

SAN DIEGO, Calif.--Playing their fourth match in five days, the Hawaii Hilo men's tennis team completed the southern California leg of their schedule with a 6-1 win over Point Loma on Tuesday afternoon at the PLNU Tennis Courts.

The No. 20 nationally ranked Vulcans won three of four matches on this trip to improve to 4-2 on the season. Their only loss was a 4-3 war to No. 8 Azusa Pacific. 

The Vulcans now return to Hilo, with their next anticipated matches to come in early April on Oahu. 

UH Hilo swept the doubles competition and took five of the six singles matches, but it wasn't as easy as the final score would indicate. In singles play, Martin Soukal came back after dropping the first set to Tyler Davis to win in the third set on the stadium court.  Luca Checchia did the same on court three, rallying from a set down to win 7-5 in the third. 

Joshua Liu won on court six to complete his southern California trip unbeaten in singles at 4-0, but he also had to go three sets before claiming the win. Alessio Demichelis won in straight sets at No. 2 and Luca Matheiowetz did the same on court five, both winning by 6-3, 6-3 scores. 

"We were tired but we powered through and that was the design of this tough trip," Vulcan head coach Kallen Mizuguchi said. "We wil now come back home and train to get ready for our next set of matches."

  PLNU Tennis Courts, San Diego, Calif.

Singles competition
1. Martin Soukal (UHH) def. Tyler Davis (PL), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).
2. Alessio Demichelis (UHH) def. Tales Silva (PL), 6-3, 6-3.
3. Luca Checchia (UHH) def. Yuki Okamoto (PL), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
4. David Strassburger (PL) def. Chun En Wu (UHH), 6-3, 6-3.
5. Luca Matheiowetz (UHH) def. Jasdeep Paintal (PL), 6-3, 6-3. 
6. Joshua Liu (UHH) def.Alejandro Castaneda (PL), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4).
Singles order of finish: 4-5-2-1-6-3.

Doubles competition
1. Soukal/Demichelis (UHH) def. Davis/Yukamoto (PL), 6-4.
2. Checchia/Santiago Di Loreto (UHH) def. Silva/Castaneda (PL),  
3. En Wu/Liu (UHH) def. Paintal/Strassburger (PL), 6-3, 
Doubles order of finish: 3-2-1

Records: No. 20 UH Hilo 4-2, Point Loma 1-4