(photo of Chun En Wu courtesy of Jordan Herrod)

SURPRISE, Ariz.--The No. 12 nationally ranked UH HIlo men's tennis team took step number one towards a league title with a 4-0 win over Biola in the quarterfinals of the Pacific West Conference Tennis Championships at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.

The win for the #2 seed Vulcans over the #7 seed Eagles sets up yet another bout between UH HIlo and Hawaii Pacific in the semi's. This will be the fourth meeting of the year between the two, with UHH having won two of the three. The Sharks defeated Metro State-Denver today in the quarters, 4-0.

Start time on Friday for that match is 1 pm PT (10 am in Hawaii).

The Vulcans had another tight battle with Biola, closer than the score would indicate. When these two teams met in March, it was a similar story, both with a close 4-0 outcome. 

UH HIlo took the team doubles point by first winning on court three via Chun En Wu and Alessio Demichelis. The duo won 6-2, and Martin Soukal and Santiago Di Loreto followed soon thereafter with a 6-4 win on court one to clinch the team point.

In singles, Soukal got the Vulcans to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Alexei Prokopchuk on court one. Di Loreto added the next team point on court six with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Erik Martinez, and En Wu clinched the match on court three with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Antonio Varona. In the March match against the Eagles, Soukal was locked up in the third set of a match that eventually went unfinished against Prokopchuk, but this time got the Vulcans jump started with a quick and solid win.

In today's matches that went unfinished, Demichelis was trailing in the third set, Luca Checchia was down a set, but up 5-3 in the second set, and  Joshua Liu had won the first set but was down 5-2 in the second.

"We have been pretty banged up, but stepped up big today," Vulcan head coach Kallen Mizuguchi said after the match. "We now need to refresh and get ready for another war with HPU."
  #12 UH Hilo 4, Biola 0
Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex, Surprise, Arizona

Singles competition
1. Martin Soukal (UHH) def. Alexei Prokopchuk (BU), 6-1, 6-3.
2. Alessio Demichelis (UHH) vs. Sebastian Herrea (BU), 3-6, 6-3, 1-3, UNF.
3. Chun En Wu (UHH) def. Antonio Varona (BU), 6-4, 6-3.
4. Luca Checchia (UHH) vs. Isaac Cordova (BU), 5-7, 5-3, UNF.
5. Joshua Liu (UHH) vs. Alex Sedeno (BU), 6-2, 2-5, UNF.
6. Santiago Di Loreto (UHH) def. Erik Martinez (BU), 6-1, 6-3.
Singles order of finish: 1-6-3

Doubles competition
1. Soukal/Di Loreto (UHH) def. Prokopchuk/Varona (BU), 6-4
2. Checchia/Liu (UHH) vs. Martinez/Herrera (BU), 5-4, UNF.
3. Dimichelis/En Wu (UHH) def. Cordova/Sedeno (BU), 6-2.
Doubles order of finish: 3-1

Records: No. 12 UH Hilo 6-2, Biola 9-9