(HONOLULU) After making its first-ever NCAA West Regional appearance a season ago, PLNU Women's Tennis has earned a second-straight regional berth.
 
Against the same opponent.
 
On Monday night, Point Loma was announced as the fourth seed in the West Regional and paired up against top-seeded Hawaii Pacific in a rematch of last year's regional matchup, which HPU won 4-2.
 
"It's very exciting for the women's team," Head Coach Curt Wheeler said. "Consistency proves that you're a good team and for the women's team to make it back-to-back years with really the same core intact, it just shows how strong they've been."
 
Point Loma is coming off a third-place finish at the PacWest Championships, its highest-ever finish in program history.
 
PLNU lost to HPU in the conference semifinals, 4-0, but the match was much closer than the final score indicates, with the Sea Lions earning set point in doubles before dropping the doubles point and leading in two unfinished singles matches.
 
"They played the HPU team very close at the conference tournament, even though the score didn't reflect that, and they played them very close at the regional match last year as well," Wheeler said. "The girls are excited for the opportunity. They know they're going to play against a tough team but they've been playing some great tennis as of late so they're ready to go."
 
Point Loma (16-8 overall) has never beaten Hawaii Pacific (13-7 overall) in the nine previous matchups between the two teams.
 
"There's not many teams who don't enjoy the opportunity to go to Hawaii, just like there are a lot of teams who enjoy the opportunity to come to San Diego," Wheeler said. "They're looking forward to that and some more time together, just to enjoy being around each other and spending some quality time, but I know they're most excited for the tennis and the challenge that brings."

PLNU and HPU will play on Tuesday, May 2 at 3:00 p.m. HT / 6:00 p.m. PT.