The men's tennis had a strong finish in its first match Thursday, defeating UH-Hilo (7-2). It didn't end as well however. The purple and gold fell to Hawaii Pacific in the afternoon, 7-0.

The Mustangs started the day sweeping all three doubles matches against Hilo. No. 1 pairs Yair Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Universidal del Valle de Mexico) and Henning Thrien (Gelsenkirchen, Germany/Carl Friedrick Gaus Gymnasium) easily handled their opponents with an 8-2 victory.

In singles, the match-ups were a bit more challenging with three of the six competitions going two three sets, but the Mustangs were on the winning side of each one of them. Banuelos, Thrien and Yoeri Van Speybroeck all came back in the second and third set to capture the win.

“It was tough, but the men came through. Hilo is No. 43 in the nation, and we defended our newly acquired ranking. I am grateful and happy for that,” says head coach Erik Burton.

Versus Hawaii Pacific, the Mustangs were not quite as ready to battle. WNMU dropped all three doubles competitions and were outscored, 24-7. Singles wasn't much better as the No. 1 and No. 2 spots did not have to finish because of a Hawaii Pacific sweep in the No. 3 through No. 6 spots.

Click here for Hilo results.

Click here for Hawaii Pacific results.