SURPRISE, Ariz. – The 13th ranked Hawai'i Pacific University men opened the 2021 PacWest Conference Championships with a 4-0 shutout of Metro State Denver on Thursday in quarterfinal action at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
 
The Sharks (4-3) won in straight sets at singles and claimed the doubles point from the Roadrunners (7-10).
 
HPU made it quick with the doubles point, winning at No. 1 with Benjamin Loccisano and Marcel Hornung beating Mateo Besada and Daniel Llorente 6-1, just before Felix Einig and Cheng-Chieh Wang took No. 2 with a 6-0 blanking of Jack McDermott and David Kijak. The No. 3 position had Kilian Maitre and Ryohei Arai down to Alejandro Martinez-Morilla and Billy McDermott 4-3 when the point was won.
 
In singles, Horning collected the first point for the Sharks at No. 4, defeating Kijak 7-5, 6-1. Wang followed with a win at No. 6 against Billy McDermott 6-2, 6-1. The match was over when Einig claimed No. 2 with a 6-4, 6-0 victory versus Jack McDermott.
 
The unfinished matches had Loccisano up at No. 1 over Llorente 6-4, 3-2, with Maitre ahead at No. 3 versus Martinez-Morilla 7-6 (7-0). MSUD was ahead at No. 5 with Besada leading Arai 7-6 (7-2).
 
The No. 13 Sharks get a fourth match against No. 12 Hawai'i Hilo in the semifinals. UH Hilo beat Biola 4-0 to advance to semis against HPU. The match is slated for 10 a.m. HST (1 p.m. MST) on Friday at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.