PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Hawai'i Pacific University men's tennis team closed regular season play by battling a Top 10 team to the finish before falling to No. 9 Valdosta State (Ga.) 5-4 on Sunday West Florida's Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex.
 
The Sharks (1-12) dropped their third straight match, while the No. 9 Blazers (15-3) won their seventh straight match. It was the second time this season HPU has fallen 5-4 to a Top 25 team.
 
The heartbreaker for the Sharks came at No. 4 singles, where Juan Erro battled VSU's Xavier Pineda through three sets before Pineda took a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory and the match for the Blazers. The Sharks also lost a three-setter at No. 3 singles as VSU's Fernando Rivas took a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win over HPUs Gerardo Irrarrazabal.
 
The team loss put a damper on the great day by the Sharks Maxime Gayte who beat sixth ranked Jordi Mas 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1 singles and teamed with Irrarrazabal at No. 1 doubles to upset 15th ranked Mas and Florian Simbozel 9-7.
 
HPU also had a double winner in Jack Lyttle, who beat Davis Stewart 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 singles, and teamed with Adrian Elduque at No. 3 doubles to edged Steward and Axel  Holm 9-8 (3).
 
With the win by Lyttle/Elduque, HPU held a 2-1 lead after doubles. VSU got the win at No. 2 doubles as Rivas and Pineda beat Erro and Benjamin Loccisano 8-5.
 
HPU got wins from Gayte and Lyttle early in singles. However, VSU's Holm ripped Elduque 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles and 19th ranked Simbozel took down Loccisano 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2.
 
But the Blazers tied the match at 4-all with Rivas' win and won it with the Pineda triumph.
 
The regular season comes to a close with the loss, but the Sharks are in action again on Thursday when they open play in the PacWest Conference Championships in Surprise, Ariz.