Hawaii Pacific continued their early season success with victories over Hawaii Hilo and an upset of Azusa Pacific. The Sharks are the Team of the Week, with Dominican’s Deepa Vanaraja claiming Player of the Week for her role in two Penguin victories.

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ITA National Poll

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Domincan’s Deepa Vanaraja, Sr., 5-7, Chennai, India                    
Dominican’s Deepa Vanaraja won two singles matches and a doubles encounter during a 2-0 week for the Penguins. The senior from India won a marathon battle in the slim 4-3 victory over Hawaii Hilo, outlasting Mila Srebro on court three, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5. Vanaraja won in straights in DUC’s 6-1 win over Fresno Pacific. She had one doubles win (FPU) and the other doubles match went unfinished.  The third-year Penguin, who went 12-3 last season in singles on the back courts, spent her freshman season at Holy Names.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Hawaii Pacific Sharks                                                                                                                                                     
Hawaii Pacific continued to roll with a 5-2 win over Azusa Pacific and a 4-3 victory over Hawaii Hilo. Against the Cougars on Oahu, the Sharks won the doubles point and then captured two singles matches in straight sets—Tereza Noah on court two and Rosa Viller Moeller on court five. Shanelle Lopez then picked up the first APU point on court four, but Willow Dymkowski clinched for HPU with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win on court six. In a battle between two of the top players in the conference, HPU's Evi Roobol topped Stina Larsson on court one, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Against Hawaii Hilo, the Sharks won the doubles point and then took a 3-0 lead behind straight sets wins by Noah and Kayleigh Castillo. The Vulcans battled back with a big win on court one with Johanna Roggenkamp topping Roobol 6-4, 6-2, but Dymkowski clinched on court five. Hilo won the final two matches in three sets behind Victoria Ricaurte-Cabas and Pia Starnecker. Hawaii Pacific is now 5-2, with all five wins coming against PacWest schools and the two losses were against D-I programs.

ITA NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific is ranked No. 13 in the February 18 ITA national poll, with Point Loma listed at No. 20. The next list arrives on February 25.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: In Dominican’s wild win over Hawaii Hilo, all six singles matches went three sets. In addition to that match and HPU’s 4-3 win over Hilo, there were three other 4-3 bouts—Biola and Westmont both topping CSU Los Angeles by that score, and Pomona-Pitzer edging Azusa Pacific…Point Loma won its lone match of the week, 5-2 over Biola…PacWest standings are not official, as there is not a conference schedule in place. But six teams have winning overall records through the first few weeks of the season—Dominican 4-1, Azusa Pacific 6-2, Fresno Pacific 3-1, Hawaii Pacific 5-2, Biola 3-2 and Point Loma 3-2.

THIS WEEK: Matches resume today with Westmont at Concordia and Point Loma at CSU Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Azusa Pacific goes to Biola and Westmont is at Chapman. Friday features Dominican and Jessup at the Univ. of Pacific, while APU is at Redlands. On Saturday, Stanislaus State is at Menlo, Stanton is at Azusa, Concordia is at Fresno Pacific and Biola goes to Westmont. Sunday shows Menlo at Dominican. To see the complete schedule, click here.