WAIPAHU, Hawai'i – No. 9 Hawai'i Pacific University opened the season strong with a 6-1 victory over Trinity (Texas) on Thursday afternoon at the Patsy Mink Central Oahu Regional Park Tennis Center.
 
The Sharks (1-0) lost a point in singles and a doubles match to the Tigers (0-1) who are ranked 13th by the ITA in NCAA Division III.
 
The Sharks were led by junior Benjamin Loccisano, playing at No. 1 in both singles and doubles. Loccisano won his singles match against Trinity's Cameron Krimbill 6-3, 6-4 and teamed with Ondrej Ctverak to beat Krimbill and Jordan Pitts 7-6 (7-2).
 
Ctverak was also a double winner, beating Wilson Hamilton 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3 singles.
 
HPU claimed the doubles point with a win at No. 2, as Lucas Poock and Matej Panik beat Hamilton and Artur Zigman 6-1.
 
The Sharks took No. 5 singles as Cheng-Chieh Wang beat Jace Akagi-Okuma 6-4, 6-0, and won at No. 6 with Poock beating Zigman 6-0, 6-4. HPU picked up the win at No. 4 as Panik won 7-5 and was up 5-3 over Hao Nguyen when the Tiger retired.
 
The Tigers scored at No. 2 singles as Pitts defeated Ryohei Arai 6-3, 6-4 for their only point. Trinity did win a doubles match at No. 2 with Hamilton/Zigman beating Panik/Poock 6-1.
 
The Sharks play two matches on Friday, starting at 10 a.m. when they host Division III's No. 2 team in Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. They turnaround to take on Pacific (Ore.) at 2 p.m. Both matches are set for the CORP Tennis Center.