SURPRISE, Ariz. – No. 3 and top-seeded Hawai'i Pacific University opened play in the PacWest Conference Championships with a 4-2 victory over eighth-seeded Holy Names on Thursday morning at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
 
The third ranked Sharks (13-4) had to come from behind to beat the Hawks (4-10) and advance to the semfinals.
 
HPU were upset in doubles and lost the point to the Hawks, as Hugo Colpart and Alex Vinee-Munoz upset the Sharks 12th ranked duo of Valentin Masse and Maxim Gayte 6-2 at No. 1, followed closely by John Giesberts and Valentin Baranyi win over HPU's Lukas Bauer and Cheng-Chieh Wang 6-2 at No. 2 for the point. HPU was ahead at No.3 as Ondrej Ctverak and Benjamin Loccisano were up Vincent Hennebelle and Javier Luque 5-4 when the point was completed.
 
The Sharks came back strong in singles, as Lucas Poock evened the match at 1-1 by taking No. 6 singles over Hennebelle 6-1, 6-1. HPU took the lead when 74th ranked Loccisano won at No. 3 over Giesberts 6-2, 6-2 and made it 3-1 as Gayte beat Baranyi 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4.
 
The Hawks clawed back by taking No. 2 singles with Vinee-Munoz won over Ctverak 6-2, 7-5, to make it 3-2. HPU closed it with the win at No. 5 as Bauer downed Luque 6-4, 6-3.
 
The No. 1 singles match between 25th ranked Masse and HNU's Colpart split sets with Masse up 6-4, 4-6, 2-0 when finished.
 
The Sharks play again on Friday in the Championship Semifinals against fifth seeded Concordia Irvine at 6 a.m. HST (9 a.m. MST). CUI defeated fourth seeded Sonoma State 4-2.