FRESNO, Calif. – The University of Hawai`i men's tennis team won its third straight Western Athletic Conference Tournament title Sunday with a thrilling 4-3 win over No. 2 seed and host Fresno State at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center.

 

Jeremy Tweedt's come-from-behind, three-set win over Tejesvi Veerepalli on the No. 4 court clinched the Rainbow Warrior victory and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Tweedt, a junior from Paris, France, rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the final set to help top-seeded UH claim the title.

 

The Rainbow Warriors (12-7, 4-1 WAC) and Bulldogs (18-9 4-1) were WAC regular-season co-champions and engaged in an epic tournament match for the second straight year. UH defeated Fresno State by the same 4-3 count in a semifinal match last year in Honolulu. 

 

UH got the upper hand early by winning the doubles point as the duos of Dennis Lajola and Daniel Llarenas on the No. 2 court and Tweedt and Leo Rosenberg on the No. 3 court picked up wins.

 

Fresno State, ranked 29^th nationally, took a 3-1 lead after three straight singles wins at the No. 2, 5 and 6 courts. But Lajola and Rosenberg knotted the score at 3-3, both with straight-set wins. Lajola clipped Mirko Zapletal 6-4, 7-6 (3) on the No. 1 court, while Rosenberg rolled past  Remi Boutillier 6-4, 6-3, on court No. 3.

 

That set the stage for the deciding match on the No. 4 court. Verepalli dropped the first set to Tweedt by a 6-3 count, but came back to take the second set, 6-4. The Bulldogs looked poised to end UH's two-year reign as WAC champs when Verepalli took a 4-1 lead in the third and final set. But, Tweedt, a transfer from the University of Tennessee, reeled off five straight games to deny the Bulldogs and assure UH both the regular-season and tournament titles.

 

The No. 43 Rainbow Warriors will now play in their third straight NCAA Tournament. The official announcement for the tournament field will be on Tuesday, May 4.

 

1. No. 24 Remi Boutillier/Rikus de Villiers (FS) def. No. 75 Phillipp Eberhard/Andreas Weber (UH) 8-2

2. Dennis Lajola/Daniel Llarenas (UH) def. Taylor Leiby/Mirko Zapletal (FS) 8-3

3. Leo Rosenberg/Jeremy Tweedt (UH) def. Tejesvi Veerepalli/Siddharth Alapati (FS) 8-6

 

1. No. 121 Dennis Lajola (UH) def. Mirko Zapletal (FS) 6-4, 7-6 (3)

2. Rikus de Villiers (FS) def. Andreas Weber (UH) 6-3, 6-0 

3. Leo Rosenberg (UH) def. Remi Boutillier (FS) 6-4, 6-3

4. Jeremy Tweedt (UH) def. Tejesvi Veerepalli (FS) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

5. David Ayoun (FS) def. Philipp Eberhard (UH) 6-2, 6-3 

6. Siddharth Alapati (FS) def. Dmytro Kovalyov (UH) 6-1, 6-3

 

James Meredith/Jeff Mullen, Boise State

Remi Boutillier/Rikus de Villiers, Fresno State

Philipp Eberhard/Andreas Weber, Hawai'i

 

Vicente Joli, Boise State

James Meredith, Boise State

Remi Boutillier, Fresno State

Mirko Zapletal, Fresno State

Dennis Lajola, Hawai'i

Leo Rosenberg, Hawai'i