FRESNO, Calif. - The University of Hawai`i men's tennis team will be in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament finals for the third straight year after a 4-1 win over Idaho Saturday afternoon at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center.
The Rainbow Warriors (11-7), the two-time defending tournament champions, will seek its third straight title on Sunday when they face host and No. 2 seed Fresno State, a 4-2 winner over Boise State in the other semifinal. First serve is at 2:00 p.m. PT (11:00 a.m. HT).
Idaho (22-9), the No. 5 seed, defeated Nevada in a first-round match on Friday to face the top-seeded Rainbow Warriors, who earned a bye into the semifinals. It was the team's second meeting in less than a week. UH defeated the Vandals handily, 5-2, in Honolulu last Sunday to earn a share of the WAC regular season title.
The Rainbow Warriors were just as dominant this time around. UH won the doubles point, then got straight-set singles victories by No. 1
Dennis Lajola, No. 3
Leo Rosenberg and No. 4
Jeremy Tweedt. Lajola, a three-time all-WAC first team selection, was particularly impressive in a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lachlan Reed. UH, meanwhile, led in two of the three unfinished matches.
Idaho earned it's only point after senior
Andreas Weber retired versus Artem Kuznetsov during the first set of their match on the No. 2 court. Weber's status for Sunday's championship match is uncertain.
UH now faces a Bulldog squad with whom they shared the WAC regular-season title. The Rainbow Warriors defeated No. 29 Fresno State (18-8) in Honolulu, 5-2, in a regular season match on April 3. The Rainbow Warriors also defeated the Bulldogs, 4-3, in an epic semifinal match in last year's WAC Tournament.
The winner of the finals earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Fans can follow the championship with live stats at the
WAC Tournament Central website.
No. 43 Hawai`i def. No. 73 Idaho, 4-1
Doubles (UH wins point)
Singles competition
-UH-
