LAIE, HAWAII -- Brigham Young University-Hawaii defeated Willamette University in a pair of men's tennis matches on Monday, March 26 at the BYU-Hawaii Tennis Courts. The Seasiders won the first match, which was played using team tournament scoring, 5-0. BYU-Hawaii also took the second match, which included only singles matched, 6-0.
The Seasiders, who are ranked #26 in the nation in NCAA Division II, evened their season record at 5-5. BYU-Hawaii is ranked #6 in the West Region. Willamette, which competes in NCAA Division III, fell to 3-8 overall.
In the first match, BYU-Hawaii earned victories in all three doubles matches and then triumphed at #2 and #5 singles to win the overall match.
Yevhen Zakharov and Martin Chojnacki, ranked #3 in the West Region in doubles defeated Willamette's Joshua Wong (Jr., Hilo, HI/Hilo HS) and Cody Ferguson (Sr., North Bend, OR/North Bend HS/Western Oregon Univ.) at #1 doubles, 8-4.
Christopher Adamson and Andy Xing of BYUH won #2 doubles, 8-1, over Garrett Vincent (So., Seattle, WA/Seattle Prep/Bellevue CC) and Devin Abney (Shoreline, WA/Shorecrest HS/U. of Redlands).
At #3 doubles, Christiaan Noot and Isaac Hadley won for the Seasiders, 8-0, against Will Cooper (So., Gresham, OR/Centennial HS) and Cameron Thompson (Jr., Torrance, CA/North Torrance HS).
Chojnacki, ranked #5 in the West Region, won #2 singles over Ferguson, 6-0, 6-1. Hadley won #5 singles over Abney, 6-0, 6-0.
The other singles matches were stopped once the overall team victory was secured by BYU-Hawaii. Although those matches were not finished, they included several quality performances by the Bearcats.
At #1 singles, Zakharov, ranked #3 in the West Region, held a slim 5-4 advantage in the first set against Wong.
Vincent of WU was in a closely contested match at #3 singles against C.J. Adamson, ranked #20 in the West Region. Vincent and Adamson were tied 4-4.
At #6 singles, Xing earned a 6-3 win in a competitive first set against Jack Schreiber (Fr., Solana Beach, CA/The Grauer School). Xing held a 3-0 lead in the second set when play ended.
In the second team match of the day, the Bearcats and the Seasiders played only singles. BYU-Hawaii won all six matches.
Zakharov faced a tremendous challenge in the #1 singles match. Ferguson of Willamette forced Zakharov into a tie-breaker in the first set before falling to BYU-Hawaii's top player, 7-6, (7-5), 6-2.
The Bearcats will return to the mainland for their next match, which will be played on Friday, March 30 at the Willamette University Tennis Courts against George Fox University. The Northwest Conference action is slated to begin at 1 p.m. (PDT).
