OKLAHOMA CITY – No. 9 Hawai'i Pacific University opened the inaugural ITA Division II National Indoor Team Championships with a strong 4-1 triumph against No. 14 Flagler at the Oklahoma City Tennis Center.
 
The Sharks (5-3) easily won the doubles point from the Saints (1-3), and picked up three points from singles to win the first-ever match of the event.
 
HPU made almost quick work of the doubles point, taking the top two positions. Ondrej Ctverak and Matej Panik won at No. 1 against Luca Bolla/Jiri Jenicek 6-1, then Marcel Hornung and Benjamin Loccisano took No. 2 over Felipe Carvalho/Rasmus Jonsson 6-4. The No. 3 pairing was halted as Ryohei Arai and Cheng-Chieh Wang were trailing Tommaso Bagon/Rodrigo Carvalho 5-3 when the point was won.
 
The Sharks took advantage of the bottom of the singles lineup to collect the win. Panik took down Carvalho 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5, and Wang quickly followed at No. 6 beating Bagon 6-2, 6-1 for the 3-0 lead.
 
The Saints collected a point at No. 1 when 47th ranked Bolla took out 44th ranked Loccisano 6-2, 6-4. But HPU came up with the point at No. 4 for the win when Arai used three sets to beat Jonsson 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
 
Two positions were unfinished as Hornung led at No. 3 against Jenicek 3-6, 7-6, 3-2, and Ctverak split at No. 2 with Carvalho 4-6, 6-2 and trailed 1-2 in the third when the match was clinched.
 
The ninth ranked Sharks advance to the men's semifinals on Saturday morning to face second ranked Columbus State (Ga.) in a 7 a.m. HST (11 a.m. CST) match at the Oklahoma City Tennis Center.