SURPRISE, Ariz.--For the third year in a row, the Hawai`i Hilo men's tennis team is returning to the championship match of the Pacific West Conference tournament. 

After falling in those two matches to Hawaii Pacific and Azusa Pacific, hopefully in 2021, the third time will be a charm.

The Vulcans will play APU after fighting off Hawaii Pacific on Friday afternoon at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Center, 4-1. The Cougars won by the same score in the other semifinal over Concordia.

UH Hilo, ranked 12th in the country, improved to 7-2 with the win. No. 13 Hawaii Pacific is now 4-4. The Vulcans have won three of their four matches this season against the Sharks.

But this one, like the others, was a war of attrition that the Vulcans held on to win. 

The Vulcans grabbed the all-important doubles point with wins on court three and two, both by 6-4 scores. Chun En Wu and Alessio Demichelis edged Kilian Maitre and Ryohei Arai at No. 3, and Luca Checchia and Joshua Liu were the victors at No. 2 over Felix Einig and Cheng-Cheih Wang.

Down 1-0, the Sharks quickly evened the match when UHH's Demichelis was forced to retire in the first set with an injury. The team scored stayed at 1-1 for quite some time, as the other five courts were slugfests.

On court one, UHH's Martin Soukal provided the next Vulcan point with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Benjamin Loccisano. It was the third time this year that those two have met, with Soukal now capturing two of the three. 

Santiago Di Loreto gave the Vulcans a 3-1 lead on court six with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Wang, leaving UHH one win away. That triumph would eventually come on court four when Checchia won a overtime second set with a 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) win over Marcel Hornung. Checchia saved one set point and finally won on his fourth match point. 

The other two singles matches were in the third set and go down as unfinished.

Next for the Vulcans? An undefeated Azusa Pacific team (against D-II competition) that topped UHH 4-3 in March at Azusa. The Cougars (16-3) have won 13 matches in a row. 

The championship match is set for 1 pm on Saturday. 

#12 UH Hilo 4, #13 Hawaii Pacific 1
Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex, Surprise, Ariz.

Singles competition
1. Martin Soukal (UHH) def. Benjamin Loccisano (HPU), 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
2. Felix Eining (HPU) def. Alessio Demichelis (UHH), 3-1, RET.
3. Chun En Wu (UHH) vs. Kilian Maitre (HPU), 4-6, 6-4, 1-2, UNF
4. Luca Checchia (UHH) def. Marcel Hornung (HPU), 6-1, 7-6 (9-7).
5. Joshua Liu (UHH) vs. Ryohei Arai (HPU), 7-5, 1-4, UNF.
6. Santiago Di Loreto (UHH) def. Cheng-Chieh Wang (HPU), 6-4, 6-4. 
Singles order of finish: 2-1-6-4

Doubles competition
1. Soukal/Di Loreto (UHH) vs. Loccisano/Hornung (HPU), 5-6, UNF.
2. Checchia/Liu (UHH) def. Eining/Wang (HPU), 6-4.
3. Demichelis/Wu (UHH) def. Matre/Arai (HPU), 6-4.
Doubles order of finish: 3-2

Records: #12 UHH 7-2, #13 HPU 4-4