DENVER— The Colorado Mesa University men's tennis team suffered a 6-1 loss to University of Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans in neutral-site action here at MSU Denver's Assembly Athletic Complex. The loss dropped the Mavericks to 7-11 and likely out of the Pacific West Conference Championships as the Vulcans (4-8) bounced back from a 4-0 loss to the Mavericks in Fresno, California last month to split the season series.
The Mavericks received a No. 3 singles win from freshman
Emil Hultman and a No. 2 doubles win from
Diogo Manzano and
Jandre Van Wyke but could not manage any others as the Vulcans took the doubles point and five of the six singles matches to claim the overall victory.
The Mavericks came into the match slotted eighth in the PacWest rankings while the Vulcans were ninth. The Vulcans also have a common opponent advantage having defeated Holy Names, ranked tenth. The Mavericks had lost to the Hawks. Only eight of the conference's ten men's teams will be selected for the PacWest Tournament when the announcement is made in the coming days.
The Vulcans claimed the doubles point with wins in the third and first flights. Manzano and Van Wyk were 7-5 winners over Filippo Di Perna and Coby Pearce in between and Zen Yoshida and Augustin Gentile got by CMU's all-freshman duo of
William Leschig and
Henry Scheck by the same margin in the top flight to give the Vulcans the early lead.
Action then moved to singles as Luca Matheiowetz and Gentile both recorded straight set wins at No. 2 and 4 singles before Hultman put the Mavericks on the team scoring board with his 7-6, 7-6 win over Yoshida thanks to 8-6 and 7-2 tie-breaker wins.
However, the Vulcans clinched the dual when Di Perna outlasted CMU's
Jorge Abreu, playing in the No. 1 spot for the first time in his career, with identical 7-6 (7-5) tie-breaker set wins.
Joshua Liu then knocked off CMU sophomore
Tegan Hartman, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 singles before Ryosuke Sowa came from a set down to defeat Van Wyk, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) in the No. 6 singles match that wrapped up the dual.
The Mavericks will try to bounce back on Saturday when they take on NCAA Division III Colorado College in their home-opener at the Elliott Tennis Center in Grand Junction. First serve in both the men's and women's duals with the Tigers are slated for 10 a.m.
