SURPRISE, Arizona – The Hawai'i Hilo men's tennis team secured a victory on the final day of the Pacific West Conference Championships, screeching by Fresno Pacific, 4-3, for a seventh-place finish in the eight-team postseason tournament at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.

The Vulcans, seeded eighth, fell on the opening day to No. 1 HPU before dropping a 4-0 contest to No. 5 Biola in the consolation bracket.

In its final game of the season, Hawai'i Hilo opened with grabbing the doubles point after a 6-4 win on court one by Filippo Di Perna and Coby Pearce, and a 6-3 victory on court two by Luca Matheiowetz and Ryosuke Sowa.

In the singles matches, quickly made up ground with wins at the No. 4 and No. 6 spots for a 2-1 lead.

The match eventually came down to court five with sophomore Luka Petrikic playing just his fourth singles match of the season. After taking the first set going to a 7-2 tiebreaker, Petrikic closed out the match with a 6-2 second-set victory.

SINGLES WINS

2.  [UHH] F. Di Perna def. [FPU] B. Sodersten (6-2, 6-4)
3.  [UHH] J. Liu def. [FPU] J. Liu (7-5, 6-1)
5.  [UHH] L. Petrikic def. [FPU] (7-6, 6-2)

DOUBLES WINS

1.  [UHH] F. Di Perna + C. Pearce def. [FPU] B. Sodersten + J. Wong (6-4)
2.  [UHH] L. Matheiowetz + R. Sowa def. [FPU] B. Cronau + S. Bangert (6-3)

WHAT'S NEXT

Hawai'i Hilo closed the season with a 5-12 overall record.

Mahalo for your support this year.