The top-ranked Hawaii Pacific men’s tennis team improved to 22-0 with a 5-0 victory over No. 27 St. Edward’s in the opening round of the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament on Wednesday in Surprise, Ariz.
The Sharks seized control early with wins from the doubles tandem of Maik Burlage and Marko Lenz (8-5) and Clemens Graute and Jaume Martinez-Vich (8-4). HPU made it a clean sweep in doubles action when the nation’s best duo, Thibaud Berland and Yann Renault, posted a 9-7 victory in first doubles.
The Sharks will face No. 49 Bluefield State, which advanced by upsetting No. 18 NYIT, in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Seasiders advance to quarterfinals
On the heels of a 5-0 victory over Indiana University (Pa.), the BYU-Hawaii women’s tennis team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Championships on Wednesday at the Surprise (Ariz.) Raquet and Tennis Complex
Jin Jin (Leah) Han cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rachel Wood, while top-ranked Dallas Zhang clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Tanya Timko on the first singles court.
BYU-Hawaii will face No. 13 Saint Mary’s (Texas) Thursday at 7 a.m.
Bode, Lenz, Hancarova net national honors
Hawaii Pacific collected more tennis accolades on Wednesday as man’s tennis coach Hendrik Bode was named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s Coach of the Year, while Marko Lenz and Kristyna Hancarova were named ITA men’s and women’s Rookies of the Year.
Bode, a three-time West Region and PacWest Coach of the Year, has guided the top-ranked Sharks to a 22-0 record thus far and is the fourth HPU coach who has been recognized as national coach of the year.
Lenz went 19-0 in singles action and 19-3 in doubles competition. Hancarova owns marks of 14-7 (singles) and 22-5 (doubles), and helped the Sharks upend the top doubles team in the country earlier in the season.
» BYU-Hawaii’s Marrietta Tuionetoa was named Women’s Senior Player of the Year, while head coach Dave Porter was dubbed the Wilson/ITA Women’s Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
Tuionetoa has been named an ITA All-American in doubles in each of the past three seasons and was also the regional winner of the Arthur Ashe Award. Porter has amassed the second-best combined record of any NCAA tennis coach at 1,320-172, including a 673-22 women’s record.
Harada, Garczynski named All-PacWest
Chaminade men’s golfers Jarin Harada and R.J. Garczynski were named to the All-Pacific West Conference Third Team on Wednesday.
Harada, a junior from Maryknoll, averaged a team-best 75.37 shots per round on the season. Garczynski, a freshman from Indio, Calif., ended the year with an 18-round scoring average of 77.58, good for second-best on the team behind Harada.
Dixie State’s Kenny You was voted as the PacWest Golfer of the Year while Kavan Eubank of California Baptist won Freshman of the Year honors. Coach of the Year went to Gary Nelson of Dominican.
» Hawaii Hilo golfers Dalen Yamauchi and Kyeton Littel capped the 2015 season as all-Pacific West Conference selections as voted upon by league coaches. Yamauchi earned his second first-team honor, while Littel was a first-time, third-team selection.
Yamauchi won two tournaments this season.
