Posted with permission, article and pictures, courtesy of Hawaii Pacific University
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Calif. – The No. 4 Hawai’i Pacific University men hopes for a national title were dashed on Thursday, as No. 6 Flagler defeated HPU 4-2 in the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tennis Championships at Sanlando Park.
The Sharks (18-3), the second seed in the tournament, lost the doubles point to the Saints (20-5) the seventh seed as Flagler went on to be the first upset winner of the tournament.
The Sharks turned in the first doubles win at No. 2 as Jordi Walder and Jan Heine beat Nikita Tatyanin and Jagger Ong-Patzwald 6-3, just minutes before the Saints knotted the pairs play with a win at No. 3 with Jacopo Denitto and Petr Cervinka downing Benjamin Loccisano and Ryohei Arai 6-3. The battle was at the No. 1 spot, where 17th ranked Oscar Del Granado and Philipp Lemken took the final two games to edge Robin Sanz and Jakub Beran 6-4 for the 1-0 lead.
The hot, extremely humid day in central Florida found the singles a tough one.
HPU tied the match at No. 1 singles with second ranked Walder beating 40th ranked Del Granado 7-5, 6-4, followed by 29th ranked Sanz taking 37th ranked Tatyanin 6-0, 7-5 at No. 2. But Flagler’s Denitto took the No. 5 spot against Heine in a tiebreaker, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) to tie the contest at 2 points apiece.
At No. 6 Flagler’s Diego Amilibia downed Arai 6-2 in the first set, then held off the Shark in a tiebreak in the second set 7-6 (7-1) to grab the point to put the Saints up 3-2.
The Sharks Beran battled at the No. 3 spot. He fell to Cervinka 7-5 in the opening set, but came back to claim the second 6-2. In the third set, the freshman started to succumb to the humidity and heat, suffering severe cramping. Beran struggled valiantly, but fell 6-3 as the Saints claimed the 4-2 win.
HPU was battling on the unfinished fourth position as well, with Loccisano and Lemken splitting sets 6-1, 2-6 and in a tiebreaker at 6-6 in the third and final set. Loccisano was down 5-2 when play was halted.
The match ended the 2022 season for the Sharks, who advanced to the NCAA II Quarterfinals for the eighth time under head coach Hendrik Bode. HPU played in its 19th NCAA Tournament, where the Sharks have reached the quarterfinal round 16 times.
