SURPRISE, Arizona – Hawai'i Hilo Men's Tennis fell to No. 4 seed Point Loma, 4-2, in the quarterfinal round of the PacWest Championships on Wednesday morning at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.
The Vulcans got off to a good start with the tandem of Max Solano and Iori Furuhata improving to 8-3 on the season with a 6-1 win on doubles Court 3. However, the Sea Lions managed to take doubles wins on Courts 1 and 2 to claim the early 1-0 lead.
PLNU's Stanislas Noel and Paul Sobich mustered up straight-sets wins on singles Courts 1 and 5, respectively before Solano and Filippo Di Perna completed 2-0 wins of their own to keep the match score at a one-point deficit. Matthieu Wehner gutted out a 7-6 tie-break victory (7-3 tiebreaker score) in Set 1 on Court 4 but fell in the following two sets to end the match with Point Loma claiming the win.
Point Loma will move on to face top seed Azusa Pacific in the semifinal round. On the other side of the bracket, HPU advances to play second seed Biola. Championship match is set for Friday morning.
Hawai'i Hilo will conclude its season tomorrow in the Fifth Place Match against No. 6 seed Fresno Pacific.
NOTES
- Singles Wins vs Point Loma:
- 2: [UHH] M. Solano def. [PLNU] D. Fisinger – 6-4, 6-2
- 6: [UHH] F. Di Perna def. [PLNU] L. Bormann – 6-2, 6-3
- Doubles Wins vs Point Loma:
- 3: [UHH] M. Solano + I. Furuhata def. [PLNU] R. Chiang + P. Sobich – 6-1
- Hawai'i Hilo: 6-9 Overall
- Preseason Coaches Poll: No. 5
- PacWest Championships Seed: No. 5
- No. 4 Point Loma: 8-10 Overall
- San Diego, California
- Preseason Coaches Poll: No. 4
- PacWest Championships Seed: No. 4
UP NEXT
- Thursday, April 17 vs No. 6 Fresno Pacific – Fifth Place Match (Surprise, Arizona)
