SURPRISE, Ariz. — Concordia Men's Tennis became the fourth team to advance to the PacWest Tennis Semifinals, winning a nail-biting match to come back from down 4-2 to upset No. 4 Sonoma State in the quarterfinals. Sonoma State had beaten Concordia by the same score twice during the regular season, but the Eagles won on the third attempt getting the clinch from freshman Florian Mayer at No. 1 singles.
The Eagles trailed 4-2 with three singles matches into a deciding set in the PacWest quarterfinals on Thursday. Man Hon Ko won the first of those three deciding sets at No. 6 singles, coming from behind for a 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) victory to keep Concordia alive. Nikita Katsnelson got the next must-win match for Concordia, winning at No. 3 singles 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
With the overall score tied at 4-4, the No. 1 singles match between Mayer and Sonoma's Nate Oppenheim was the only match left. The windy conditions forced the match to be moved twice to different courts. Mayer won the first set 7-5 and led in the second set before losing it in a tiebreaker 7-0. After the second set, the match was moved to court #4 for the deciding set. Mayer got a break lead early in the deciding set and had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4. He won the first two points, but Oppenheim came back to make it 30-30. Mayer stepped up in a big moment and won the final two points to secure the match for his team, winning 7-5, 6-7(0), 6-4.
Thomas Kyle got the first of Concordia's four singles wins as the Eagles looked to overcome a 2-1 deficit after doubles. He won at No. 5 singles in another tight match 7-6(3), 6-1. The Eagles only doubles point came at the No. 2 position where Katsnelson and Shimon Murakami won 8-3.
The PacWest semifinals are set after Thursday's action at the PacWest Tournament that featured wins for No. 1 Hawai`i Hilo, No. 2 Azusa Pacific, No. 3 Point Loma and No. 5 Concordia on a windy day in Surprise, Arizona.
Up Next: Eagles Men's Tennis competes in its second PacWest semifinal match in three years on Friday April 20th at 1:30 p.m. against #1 Hawaii Hilo.
