HONOLULU--The University of Hawai'i men's tennis team returns home after a two-week road trip to start a four-match homestand over the next two weeks, beginning with a pair of non-conference matches against NCAA DIII Washington (St. Louis) and DII Hawai'i Hilo. Since sweeping the Washington Huskies in their last home match, the Rainbow Warriors have gone 4-2 on their two-week road to improve to 9-6 overall. This week, the Rainbow Warriors are going for their 10th win of the season. It would be the first time since 2010 that the 'Bows will have recorded double digit wins in a season. In 2010, UH posted a 12-8 record, won the WAC tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament.
DUAL MATCH #16
TEAMS: Hawai'i (9-6, 0-0 BWC) vs. Washington (St. Louis) (3-4, 0-0 UAA)
DATE: Thursday, March 12, 2020
TIME: 5:30 p.m.
SITE: UH Tennis Complex - Honolulu, HI
TV: Spectrum Sports will be televising the match with Scott Robbs (play-by-play) and former Rainbow Wahine Cindy Nguyen (color analyst) will be handling the broadcast. Channels 12 (SD) and 1012 (HD)
VIDEO STREAMING: BigWest.TV (Must be a Spectrum cable subscriber to stream in Hawai'i).
SERIES HISTORY: First meeting
DUAL MATCH #17
TEAMS: Hawai'i (9-6, 0-0 BWC) vs. Hawai'i Hilo (9-6, 0-0 Pac West)
DATE: Saturday, March 14, 2020
TIME: 11:00 a.m.
SITE: UH Tennis Complex - Honolulu, HI
SERIES HISTORY: Hawai'i has an all-time 41-1 record against the Vulcans.
Notes:
- Warriors hitting their stride - After starting the season at 0-3, the Rainbow Warriors have bounced back and have since gone 9-3 and have been playing well. On UH's most recent roadtrip, the Rainbow Warriors started by going 2-1 with wins over Pacific and Nevada in the Pacific Central Valley Championship hosted by Fresno State. The Warriors then swept Pacific again a few days later in a single match in Stockton, 7-0. Hawai'i finished their two-week swing through California by splitting their two matches to start the Golden State Invitational defeating both host Sacramento State and St. Mary's. The final day of the tournament was rained out.
- Sophomore Andre Ilagan became just the sixth Rainbow Warrior to be ranked in the ITA rankings in the last 10 years, joining Dennis Lajola, Andreas Weber, Leo Rosenburg, Sascha Heinemann, Jonathan Brooklyn and current teammate Blaz Seric. Ilagan is the first men's player ranked since Seric was at #124 in 2018. Ilagan entered the poll at No. 117. Ilagan also earned his third career Big West Athlete of the Week award after upsetting No. 43 Jack Davis of Washington in UH's last televised match. Ilagan toppled Davis in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, posting his first career victory over a ranked foe. Playing on the No. 1 court, Ilagan split the first two sets with Davis before cruising to the third set victory. His win clinched the win over the Huskies, which was UH's first over a Pac-12 opponent since 2006. UH has won three straight matches and five of its last six. Ilagan and teammate Lucas Labrunie also combined to win at No. 1 doubles, 6-4, over Davis and Alexis Alvarez. UH ended up securing the doubles point.
- After a strong showing at the Pacific Central Valley Championships, Blaz Seric earned his second career BWC Athlete of the Week award. Playing at No. 3, Seric, a junior from Remshalden, Germany finished 2-1 in singles and 2-0 in doubles to help UH come away with two wins in three matches at the tournament hosted by Fresno State. From the No. 3 singles spot, Seric defeated Pacific's Nathan Hampton in a hard fought 6-4, 7-6 (2) battle. He closed the tourney with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nevada's Delmas N'tcha. At No. 2 doubles, Seric partnered with Axel Labrunie to win both of their matches. The duo knocked off Hampton and John Horoz Garner of Pacific, 6-2, before toppling N'tcha and Gvidas Motuzas of Nevada by a 6-3 score.
- Both freshman Axel Labrunie and Seric are leading the Rainbow Warriors with a team-best 10-3 singles record. Axel Labrunie (younger brother of Lucas), just had is nine-match win streak snapped in a three-set loss to St. Mary's Karlo Divkovic this past weekend. Seric has won 10 of his last 11 matches--including his last five in a row. Tristan Martins is right behind with a 10-3 record primarily playing on the No. 3 court. In doubles, UH's Ilagan and Lucas Laburnie have raced out to a team-best 10-2 record. UH's No. 1 duo has won their last seven-straight decisions together.
