One historic win down, one to go.
The UH-Hilo men’s tennis team beat Concordia 5-0 in the PacWest tournament semifinals on Friday at Surprise, Ariz., advancing to the championship for the first time.
The No. 9 Vuls (16-1) play No. 14 Azusa Pacific (24-2) for the conference title Saturday. Both have a chance to host a regional match in early May.
The men have worked so hard to get to this point,” UHH head coach Tina McDermott said. “Sometimes despite the scores, every match in this conference is a battle. We have had a tough schedule and have had to fight for every match.”
Against Concordia in singles, Vaclav Slezak, Alessandro Giuliato, and Chun En Wu won their matches.
In doubles, Slezak/Giuliato, Fillat Perez/Bruno Figlia, and Greg Zukeran/Wu won their matches.
The final will be a rematch of a contest the Vulcans won 7-2 when the two teams met at Azusa in March, but the it was much closer than the score would indicate.
Azusa beat Point Loma 5-1 to get to its fifth consecutive title match.
“It will be a great match,” McDermott said. “Two really good teams will play for the title.”
Singles
#28 Vaclav Slezak (UHH) def. Florian Mayer (CUI), 6-1, 6-2.
#55 Alessandro Giuliato (UHH) def. Joseph Bray (CUI), 6-2, 6-1.
Chun En Wu (UHH) vs. Nakita Katsnelson (CUI), 7-5, 0-1, unfinished.
Alex Fillat Perez (UHH) vs. Daniel Reddman (CUI), 3-6, 1-1, ufinished.
Arturo Dell’eva (UHH) vs. Thomas Kyle (CUI), 2-6, 6-3, unfinished.
Gregory Zukran (UHH) vs. Man Hon Ko (CUI), 6-6 (2-4).
Doubles
Slezak\Giuliato (UHH) def. Mayer\Reddmann (CUI), 8-6.
Fillat Perez\Bruno Figlia (UHH) def. Shimon Murakami\Katsnelson (CUI), 8-7 (7-3).
Zukeran\Wu (UHH) def. Kyle\Hon Ko (CUI), 8-4.