LA MIRADA, Calif.--In a men's tennis match that lasted longer than most marathons, the host Biola Eagles outlasted visiting Hawai`i Hilo 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon and evening at the Biola Tennis Center.

From doubles play to the final singles match, three hours and 30 minutes ticked off the clock. When it was all said and done, No. 37 ranked Biola edged UH Hilo for the second time this season by the same 5-2 score.

The Eagles improved to 11-4 with the victory while the Vulcans slipped to 1-8. UH Hilo will continue its southern Calfornia trip with a Thursday match at Concordia and a Friday date at Point Loma.

With the match tied at 2-2, the Eagles won a straight sets verdict to take a 3-2 lead. With two matches remaining and everyone else long done, everyone had to wait for the final two bouts to finish before the score was final.

But first, back to how it got to this point. Biola won the doubles point, winning the pivotal match on court one when Alexei Prokopchuk and Antonio Varona edged Martin Soukal and Alessio Demichelis, 7-5. When the two duos played in UHH's season opener on Oahu, the Vulcan pair won in a tiebreaker.

Soukal quickly tied the team score at 1-1 when he took down Sebastian Herrera on court one, 6-1, 6-1. Prokopchuk gave the lead back to the Eagles (2-1) when he defeated Demichelis at No. two, 6-4, 6-2.

UHH then drew even when Luca Matheiowetz won in straight sets (6-3, 6-0) on court five over Isaac Cordova to make it 2-2. Biola grabbed the lead back with Alex Sedeno's win over Luca Checchia, 6-4, 6-2. Which left the drama to play out.

UH Hilo's Agustin Gentile was just one game away from tying the team score at 3-3. Gentile lost the first set to Varona 6-2, but battled back to take set number two, 6-4, He was then ahead 5-3 in the third when he had to retire with a leg injury. From an anticipated 3-3 score, it was now 4-2 in Biola's favor.

As it turned out, the Eagles won the final match and would have clinched anyway when Callen Hein won a three-set battle against Joshua Liu, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 to complete the evening. The two wins in 2022 for Biola over UH Hilo are their first two wins ever over the Vulcans in the series history between the two.

#37 Biola 5, UH Hilo 2
Biola Tennis Center, La Mirada, Calif.

Singles competition
1. M. Soukal (UHH) def. S. Herrera (BU), 6-1, 6-1.
2. A. Prokopchuk (BU) def. A. Demichelis (UHH), 6-4, 6-2.
3. A. Varona (BU) def. A. Gentile (UHH), 6-2, 4-6, 3-5, ret.
4. A. Sedeno (BU) def. L. Checchia (UHH), 6-4, 6-2.
5. L. Matheiowetz (UHH) def. I. Cordova (BU), 6-3, 6-0.
6. C. Hein (BU) def. J. Liu (UHH), 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.
Singles order of finish: 1-2-5-4-3-6

Doubles competition
1. Prokopchuk/Varona (BU) def. Soukal/Dimichelis (UHH), 7-5.
2. Herrera/Carlos Solorzano (BU) def. Liu/Gentile (UHH), 6-2.
3. Cordova/Hein (BU) vs. Checchia/L. Hamano (UHH), 5-4, UNF.
Doubles order of finish: 2-1

Records: #37 Biola 11-4, UH Hilo 1-8