LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's tennis team, notching its third doubles sweep of the season, cruised to an 8-1 home win over Hawaii Hilo Saturday.

With a rearranged doubles lineup, the Tritons took a 3-0 lead into the singles portion Saturday. From there, UCSD won five of six matches en route to the rout of the No. 43 Vulcans. The Tritons, holding a 9-5 record in 2010 and ranked nationally at No. 28 in the latest poll, will focus on exam time for a week before challenging Dartmouth College at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis courts on March 22 and then taking a Hawaii trip for three matches.

"Overall this was a good week with the three wins," said UCSD head coach Eric Steidlmayer, referring to the Tritons' victories over No. 40 Western New Mexico and No. 36 Sonoma State earlier in the week. "Today was the best doubles play we've shown all year and it was good to see the progress there."

Junior Erik Elliott and sophomore Chapman Chan, paired together for the first time in their careers, secured an 8-3 victory at the No. 1 position over UHH's Kevin Tamura and Stephen Royalty.

The duo of Armaun Emami and Austin West, ranked at No. 17 nationally in doubles, topped the Vulcans' Justin Dugan and Aaron Tada at the No. 2 spot in thrilling fashion, 9-8 (10-6).

Elliott made his successful return Saturday to the singles ladder after battling illness this past week. The junior from San Juan Capistrano improved his season record to 7-2 with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tamura at the No. 1 position.

After the March 22 contest with Dartmouth, the UCSD squad will take a Hawaii trip that features a match against No. 5 Hawaii Pacific.  

---