SURPRISE, ARIZ. - The No. 6 seed Point Loma men's tennis team will advance to the consolation match of the 2019 PacWest Championships after defeating No. 7 seed Biola, 4-1, on Friday.
 
PLNU earned the crucial doubles point to start the match. Thomas Dafcik and Yuki Okamoto paced the way from their No. 1 doubles spot with a 6-4 victory. The Eagles then won on court 3 and shifted all the focus to court 2. With the doubles point hanging in the balance, Scott Wheeler and Tim Soderman fought for a 6-4 victory and put the Sea Lions up 1-0.
 
The match then turned to singles, and the Sea Lions were ready. Dafcik, who is the No. 34 ranked singles player in the country, made quick work of his counterpart on court 1 with a 6-2 and 6-1 win. This was the fifth straight win for Dafcik as he improved to 13-1. Jasdeep Paintal extended PLNU's lead to 3-0 with a 6-3 and 6-2 win on court 6.
 
After Biola earned a point back on court 3, Mark Vasat finished off the victory. He defeated Meneses Andres 6-2 and 6-3 on court 5 to clinch the fourth, and deciding point for the Sea Lions.
 
Team Records
Point Loma (9-9), Biola (9-14)
 
Words from Curt Wheeler
On the doubles point: "The doubles point was huge today. It is always important but especially in conference tournament play with three matches back-to-back. Getting the doubles point, the momentum and the lead is important because if you can win that match quickly and not have to be out there extra time."
 
More on the doubles point: "The guys did a great job because we started down a break on both court 1 and court 2, and those were both matches we came back to win."
 
On Dafcik's win: "When Thomas has played guys that he is even slightly better than he has done a great job closing the match quickly and dominantly and getting that point on the board for us. He did that again today, and it really helped give our other guys momentum knowing we had that second point on the board."
 
On Vasat and Paintal's wins: "Both of those guys were really big today. We had lost on court 3 and were tight on the other matches, so if they don't close out who knows how the rest of those matches go. That was big for them to win, and win in straight sets, so Scott and Yuki did not have to continue playing."
 
On the opportunity to play in the consolation match: "Any time we play there is always a pride factor. We talk about how we want to go out and be excellent in everything we do. Tomorrow we have a great opportunity to end the season with a really good win against a very tough Sonoma State team that has had a good year. The guys are excited and prepared to go out and have a tough battle with Sonoma."
 
News and Notes
> PLNU and Sonoma State's match earlier this season was rained out (March 2)
> Dafcik has put together a 4-1 record in the PacWest playoffs and regional play
> His only loss came against the No. 1 player in the country last year (Oliver Frank)
> This was the first singles victory for Vasat or Paintal in postseason play
 
Next match
Point Loma will face No. 4 seed Sonoma State for the consolation title on Saturday, Apr. 20 at 9 a.m.