MTEN | Gaels Pull Out Tense Win Against Hawai'i
4/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
MORAGA, Calif. -- There might not be many instances in tennis when a dogpile is an appropriate celebration, but the Saint Mary's men's tennis team sure knew an opportunity when it saw one Sunday.
With teammates lined up alongside, Seif El Sherbini dug deep to pull out the match-clinching point, as his win at No. 4 singles gave Saint Mary's a hard-fought 4-3 victory over visiting Hawai'i.
Saint Mary's (9-9) took the first lead thanks to some gritty play in doubles. Jesse Kiuru and Joakim Norstrom won 8-3 at No. 1, with Norstrom playing through an injury that would force him to later retire at No. 2 singles.
Tuomas Manner and Samuel Bloore captured the point for the Gaels, winning 8-5 against Carter Lam and Nils Schuhmann at No. 2.
Hawai'i (6-11) pulled even with the win at No. 2, but Saint Mary's re-took the lead thanks to some dominant play by Kiuru at No. 1. He knocked off Jared Spiker 6-1, 6-1 to give the Gaels the 2-1 advantage.
A win at No. 5 allowed Hawai'i to tie things again, but Saint Mary's was again up to the task.
This time, it was Thomas Hunt who put the Gaels back in front, scoring an impressive 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win at No. 6 that Saint Mary's coach Michael Wayman would later praise as a "good win" for the freshman from New Zealand.
A win by Dmytro Kovalyov at No. 3 pulled Hawai'i into a 3-3 tie, leaving things to be decided on court four.
El Sherbini went back and forth with Chas Okamoto, winning the first set 6-4 before dropping the second 4-6.
The two traded breaks of serve late in the third set, eventually heading into a tiebreaker. Down by two at various points of the tiebreak, El Sherbini continued to fight, winning the final few points to take the match on a blustery day in Moraga.
"Conditions were tough today," Wayman said. "Seif fought and managed to pull out a big result. It's a good win for us to get back to (.500)."
Saint Mary's gets back to West Coast Conference play on Wedneday as it hosts San Francisco at 3 p.m.
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