Tournament Central
HONOLULU – The No. 68 University of Hawai'i men's tennis team defeated Idaho, 4-1, in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament Friday at the UH Tennis Complex. Hawaii (8-9) advanced to the tournament semifinals for the fourth straight year with the win.
The third-seeded Warriors will now face No. 41 and second-seed Fresno State at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Top-seeded Boise State will face No. 5 New Mexico State at 9:00 a.m. in the other semifinal match.
Things didn't start well for the defending champions as they dropped the doubles points. UH lost a pair doubles matches with its lone win at the No. 1 court as
Dennis Lajola and
Jeff Fitch breezed past Hugh McDonald and Alexandru Joitoiu, 8-2.
The Warriors responded in singles play with four straight points. All four wins came in straight sets. No. 3
Leo Rosenberg set the tone with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Alex Joitoiu. Lajola followed up with a dominating 6-2, 6-1 win over Artem Kuznetsov at the No. 1 court. Fitch took care of Alan Shin at the No. 5 court, 6-1, 6-4. Junior
Andreas Weber clinched the match for the Warriors on the No. 2 court after a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stas Glukhov.
The Warriors will now meet Fresno State for the second time in less than a month. The Bulldogs defeated UH in a close, 4-3, regular-season contest in Fresno. It will also be a rematch of last year' s WAC Tournament championship match won by the Warriors in Las Cruces.
No. 68 Hawai'i def. Idaho, 4-1
Doubles (Idaho wins doubles point)
Singles
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