Seasiders keep firm hold
on No. 1 with big victory
The Brigham Young-Hawaii men's tennis team proved they are the No. 1 team in Division II yesterday, routing second-ranked Valdosta State, 5-0, in Pensacola, Fla.The BYUH women, ranked second, also beat VSU, by the same score.
The doubles matches for the men were all tight, with the Seasiders earning key service breaks. Jan Krejci and Peter Madarassy, No. 2 in the country in doubles, got past Tobias Huning and Marco Borges, 8-5, to avenge a loss at last year's ITA Small College Championships.
Krejci and Eddie Merc won in singles for BYUH (19-0).
"We were lucky in a lot of ways today," Seasiders coach David Porter said. "First we were fortunate to win all of our doubles, that makes a big difference. Then we lost the first set in three (singles) matches and were behind in two but had the matches stopped because we were ahead."
Madarassy split two sets before his match was halted and Hung Soon Park and Andrew Makarevich lost first sets and were both in second sets when their matches were discontinued.
"We felt like we were most vulnerable today," Porter said. "We played them last year and are familiar with them. They are a very good team."
Petra Gaspar, Kellie Taguchi and Adrienn Hegedus won in singles for the women (18-0), and BYUH swept three doubles matches -- two by 8-0 scores.
The Seasider women face their toughest challenge of the season today when they take on No. 1 Armstrong Atlantic State.
UH's Smith takes third in 5,000 at Texas Relays
Hawaii's Cheryl Smith finished third in the 5,000-meter race yesterday at the 75th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas.Smith led for the first half of the race, before Debbie Thornhill and Christine Zawaski passed her. Thornhill, of Baylor, won with a track record time of 16 minutes, 40.73 seconds.
Mississippi State's Zawaski finished at 17:00.21 and Smith had a time of 17:11.95.
Other UH runners were Alethe West (14th, 17:49.89) and Teryn Bentley (20th, 19:27.72.).
The Wahine team of Natalie Kolodziej, Carolyn Berger, Sadie Martin and Shayne Enright placed 14th in the 4x800 meter relay.
Punahou graduate Eri Macdonald ran a leg in the 4x800 for Oregon, helping the Ducks finish second, five seconds behind Texas-San Antonio.
UH is scheduled to participate in the 4x400 meter relay, steeplechase and distance medley relay today.