THE RUNDOWN
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In a back and forth match, 16th-ranked Hawaii Pacific and 17th-ranked Midwestern State needed three sets on four singles courts to decide a winner Friday at the Anne Marie Tennis Center.

The Sharks emerged with a thriller at the No. 5 line to clinch the 4-3 win and hand the Mustangs their first loss of the spring.
 
MSU Texas drops to 6-1 on the season while HPU improves to 8-1.
 
HPU claimed the doubles point in what proved to be the difference in the match. Angel Palacios and Denney Norrie suffered a 6-3 loss to Benjamin Loccisano and Ondrej Ctverak at the No. 3 flight before Valentin Masse and Maxime Gayte upset the eighth-ranked pair of Ben Westwick and Alberto Diaz, 6-3, at No. 1.
 
After the Sharks clinched the doubles point, both sides played to a virtual dead-heat. Of the 14 sets played in singles, 11 were decided by two games or tiebreakers and four matches needed a decisive third set to determine a winner.
 
Trailing 1-0, Westwick pulled the Mustangs even, triumphing over Lukas Baker, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 6 flight to improve to 3-2 on the year.
 
Senior Dillon Pineda briefly gave the Maroon and Gold a 2-1 lead, taking down Ctverak, 7-5, 6-4, at the No. 2 line.
 
The Sharks got a pair of three-set wins to pull within a point of clinching the match. Alex Martinez Roca dropped a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 decision to Loccisano at No. 4 and Nolan McCaig lost to Cheng-Chieh Wang, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to give HPU a 3-2 edge.
 
Palacios erased a first-set deficit, storming back to win in a tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, against 31^st-ranked Masse at No. 1, improving to 7-0 at the No. 1 line this season.
 
In the last match standing Diaz was unable to hold on to a first set lead. The Nebraska-Kearney transfer fell in a second-set tiebreaker before succumbing in the third set to Gayte, 6-4.
 
BOX SCORE
#16 Hawaii Pacific (8-1) def. #17 Midwestern State (6-1)
Fri. March 14, 2019 | 9:30 a.m.
San Antonio, Texas
Anne Marie Tennis Center
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Valentin Masse/Maxime Gayte (HPU) def. #8 Ben Westwick/Alberto Diaz (MSU) 6-3
No. 2 – Dillon Pineda/Nolan McCaig (MSU) vs. Lukas Baker/Cheng-Chieh Wang (HPU) 5-4 unfinished
No. 3 – Benjamin Loccisano/Ondrej Ctverak (HPU) def. Angel Palacios/Denney Norrie (MSU) 6-3
 
Singles
No. 1 – Angel Palacios (MSU) def. #31 Valentin Masse (HPU) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6
No. 2 – Dillon Pineda (MSU) def. Ondrej Ctverak (HPU) 7-5, 6-4
No. 3 – Cheng-Chieh Wang (HPU) def. Nolan McCaig (MSU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
No. 4 – Benjamin Loccisano (HPU) def. Alex Martinez Roca (MSU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
No. 5 – Maxime Gayte (HPU) def. Alberto Diaz (MSU) 5-7, 7-6, 6-4
No. 6 – Ben Westwick (MSU) def. Lukas Baker (HPU) 6-2, 6-3
 
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 1); Singles (6, 2, 4, 3, 1, 5)

UP NEXT
MSU Texas meets No. 9 Indianapolis on Saturday at the Northside Tennis Center in San Antonio. First serve is slated for 9:30 a.m.