HONOLULU – No. 5 Hawai'i Pacific University dropped a 4-2 decision to Division I Santa Clara on Wednesday at the University of Hawai'i Tennis Complex.
 
The No. 5 Sharks (8-4) lost the doubles point to the Broncos (4-8), and grabbed a lead before SCU came back for the victory.
 
HPU fell behind 1-0, dropping the No.1 and No. 3 spots in doubles as SCU's Maddie Pothoff and Elvena Gevargiz beat Elodie Busson and Elisa Elhadj 6-4 at No.1, and Jamie Schroer and Nadine Del Carmen defeated Debora Echeverria and Sarah Ikioka falling to 6-1 at No. 3. The No. 2 doubles spot saw HPU's Sarah Ikioka and Nichole Ballach tied 4-4 with SCU's Katya Tabachnik and Caitlyn Frankel when the doubles point was won.
 
But the Shark came back with a big win at No. 5 singles as Ikioka beat Frankel 6-1, 6-2 that tied the match, then 56th ranked Elhadj downed Gevargiz 7-6 (7-4),  6-1 at No. 2 to give HPU a 2-1 lead.
 
But the Broncos came back by taking the No. 3 position as Schroer defeated Miyahara 6-1, 6-4 to tie the match, then Del Carmen downed Heloise Le Normand 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 6 to retake the lead at 3-2.
 
The match was decided at the No. 1 position. HPU's 15th ranked Busson dropped the first set to SCU's Maddie Pothoff 6-1, before Busson grabbed the second 6-3. In the deciding third set, Pothoff ended the match with a 6-2 victory, giving the Broncos a 4-2 win.
 
Echeverria had split sets with Tabchnik 1-6, 7-5 at No. 4 singles when the match was decided.
 
HPU has the third match of the five-match homestand on Saturday when Division I San Jose State challenges the Sharks at 10 a.m. at the University of Hawai'i Tennis Complex.