SURPRISE, Ariz. – No. 3 and top-seeded Hawai'i Pacific University collected a 4-0 victory over fifth-seeded Concordia Irvine in the semifinals of the 2019 PacWest Conference Championships at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
 
The third ranked Sharks (14-4) had a battle with the Eagles (12-9) going deep in many sets before pulling out the 4-0 win.
 
The Sharks battled for the doubles point as the teams split before the winning the final set. HPU picked up the win to start at No. 1 as the 12th ranked duo of Valentin Masse and Maxim Gayte beat Nikita Katsnelson and Shimon Murakami 6-3. CUI evened doubles with a win at No. 2 as Teis Visser and Otto Heinz downed Lukas Bauer and Cheng-Chieh Wang 6-4. The doubles point was won at No. 3 where Ondrej Ctverak and Benjamin Loccisano edged the Eagles Yassine Smiej and Thomas Kyle 7-5 for the point.
 
The Sharks wins in singles all came in straight sets. HPU got the first point at No. 6 where Bauer dispatched Heinz 6-1, 6-2. Next came 33rd ranked Gayte with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against Visser to put the Sharks up 3-0.
 
HPU put the match in the can thanks to the play of its top player, 25th ranked Valentin who clinched the match with his 6-3, 6-4 triumph at No. 1.
 
The other three singles flights went unfinished after all three split sets and had no score in their third sets. Ctverak and Katsnelson split at No. 2 6-2, 3-6, while 74th ranked Loccisano split 6-4, 2-6 at No. 4 and Cheng-Chieh Wang and Kyle went 4-6, 6-4 at No. 5.
 
The Sharks advance to the PacWest Conference Championship match for the sixth time in seven years, meeting island rival Hawai'i Hilo on Saturday. The Vulcans beat Azusa Pacific 4-1 in a three-hour, 18 minute semifinal to advance to the title match. First serve is slated for 6 a.m. HST (9 a.m. MST).