Needing a victory in the only match still on the court, Chas Okamoto came back from a one-set deficit to win his singles contest and propel the University of Hawaii past UC Davis in the semifinals of the Big West
Needing a victory in the only match still on the court, Chas Okamoto came back from a one-set deficit to win his singles contest and propel the University of Hawaii past UC Davis in the semifinals of the Big West Men’s Tennis Championship on Friday in Indian Wells, Calif.
Having entered as the top seed in the tournament, Hawaii (8-11, 4-0 Big West) was locked in a tight battle with UC Davis (14-11, 2-3) as both teams tried to earn their spot in today’s conference final. Okamoto, a Kapaa High School graduate and former Hawaii High School Athletic Association singles champion, took on Kyle Miller in the No. 3 singles match. After dropping the first set, Okamoto rallied to pull off a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory and place the ‘Bows into the championship against the No. 2 seed Cal Poly (10-12, 4-1).
Today’s matchup with Cal Poly will determine which of the two Big West teams will earn an entry into the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Tournament. Hawaii was a 6-1 winner over Cal Poly when the two teams met on March 24 at the UH Tennis Center.
Okamoto pulled double duty on Friday in the semifinals, first winning his doubles match with Marcel Chan as the pair was an 8-6 winner over Brett Bacharach and Adam Luba. Jonathan Brooklyn and Carter Lam won their doubles match in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (4), to take two out of three for UH and secure the doubles point.
In the six singles matches, UC Davis got off to a good start as Alec Adamson defeated Brooklyn in straight sets to give the Aggies three of the first four singles contests. UH’s David Schuster managed to outlast Parker Kelley 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 for the team’s second singles point and even the contest at 3-3 overall.
It was all riding on the Okamoto-Miller match and the Warrior alum, who has already been named Big West Player of the Week once this season, turned things around from his early deficit and punctuated the more than four hour match with a three-set win.
The victory makes four consecutive singles wins for Okamoto, who evened his singles record to 9-9 this season. Doubles has been more of a struggle as he was 2-6 on the year coming into the UC Davis match, but managed to come up with the clutch win to help the ‘Bows earn a key point. Okamoto and Chan are now 2-0 when paired up together on the doubles court.
Okamoto played in the No. 3 singles spot in the previous match against Cal Poly, picking up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Corey Pang. A similar result today could help propel UH further into the postseason and claim a Big West title.
First serve is scheduled for 9 a.m. Pacific time (6 a.m. Hawaiian time).
