CALIFORNIA – The Hawai'i Hilo men's tennis team took down 15th-ranked Midwestern State to highlight a tough week-long stretch of matches in southern California that included losses to Concordia University Irvine, No. 24 Azusa Pacific and Biola.
In the victory over MSU, the Vulcans started early by taking the doubles point with wins in the No. 2 spot by Coby Pearce and Filippo Di Perna (6-4), and in the No. 3 spot by Luca Matheiowetz and Ryosuke Sowa (6-3).
It was the first match Pearce and Di Perna played together as a duo and it seemed to have paid off.
"I think the guys were fired up. Having both the men's and women's teams together at the same time brought more energy," Vulcans head coach Kallen Mizuguchi said. "We made a switch at doubles that day and it worked."
After Midwestern State took a point back to start the singles round, the Vulcans closed out the win with victories by Matheiowetz (6-3, 6-4), Joshua Liu (7-5, 6-3) and Di Perna (5-7, 6-3, 6-3).
The Vulcans continued onward with CUI and again took the doubles point with Di Perna and Pearce notching consecutive wins (6-4) as Zen Yoshida and Agustin Gentile closed it out on court one with a 7-5 victory.
However, Yoshida was the only one able to come out victorious in the singles round as he won 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot with the Vulcans falling, 4-2.
In the following matches against No. 24 APU and Biola, Gentile grabbed the Vulcans' lone point in a nail-biting 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (11-9) victory in the singles round against the Cougars.
"It's been tough. Playing back-to-back-to-back-to-back matches is not the best thing to do physically and mentally," Mizuguchi said. "It's going to be a tough season. The conference has gotten pretty tough. There's no guaranteed win."
Hawai'i Hilo moved to 2-6 overall and will continue the grueling slate of matches with matchups against No. 35 Metropolitan State Denver, Colorado Mesa and Fresno Pacific in northern California.
The Vulcans will have two weeks to prepare for their lone home match of the season against Division-III opponent Cal Lutheran on March 31 at the UHH Tennis Courts.
