TOLEDO, Ohio – No. 3 seed Toledo defeated No. 2 seed Northern Illinois 4-0 in the semifinals of the 2024 Mid-American Conference Men's Tennis Championships at Shadow Valley Tennis Club on Saturday afternoon. The tournament plays clinch-scoring format, with the first team to score four points winning the match.

With Toledo up 3-0, junior Hanamichi Carvajal clinched match point on the No. 3 court to help propel the Rockets to the MAC Championships final for the third straight season. 

Toledo (13-10, 7-3 MAC) will play the No.1 seed Western Michigan (17-5, 8-2 MAC) tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for the MAC Tournament title and an automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Championship Tournament next month. The Broncos advanced to the finals by defeating No. 4 seed Ball State, 4-2 in the first semifinal match on Saturday. The championship match will be played at the UT Varsity Tennis Courts. In the case of inclement weather, the match will be played indoors at Shadow Valley Tennis Club.

Toledo won the doubles point vs. NIU thanks to victories by the No. 2 combo of Carvajal and freshman Poonthong Komolpisut and secured by the No. 1 duo of senior Pawit Sornlaksup and Marko Galic.

In singles play, Sornlaksup took the top court in straight sets to put Toledo ahead 2-0. Komolpisut followed with a two-setter from the No. 5 court to set up the clincher by Carvajal. He won his opening set 6-4, but Iker Arrastia Gaztambide took the second set 7-5 to force a tiebreaker. Carvajal was down 2-0 but rallied to win six straight games to end the match and punch UT's ticket to the finals on Sunday.

During the regular season, WMU won the first matchup with UT, 4-3 at Toledo on March 17, but the Rockets avenged the loss with a 4-3 victory in Kalamazoo on March 31.

This will be the third consecutive season that Toledo and Western Michigan will meet in the MAC Championship finals. Toledo defeated Western Michigan in the 2023 MAC Championship finals, avenging a loss to the Broncos in the 2022 finals.

MAC Championship Semifinals
Toledo 4, Northern Illinois 0
Singles
1. #77 Pawit Sornlaksup (TOL) def. Cheng En Tasi (NIU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Marko Galic (TOL) vs. Mikael Vollbach (NIU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-3 incomplete 
3. Hanamichi Carvajal (TOL) def. Iker Arrastia Gaztambide (NIU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
4. Adam Kovac (TOL)  vs. Saul Berdullas (NIU) 5-7, 6-4, 1-1 incomplete
5. Poonthong Komolpisut (TOL) def. Armin Koschtojan (NIU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Matias Olivero (TOL) vs. Christopher Norlin (NIU) 3-6, 6-6 (2-1) incomplete 

Doubles
1. Pawit Sornlaksup/Marko Galic (TOL) def. Cheng En Tsai/Mikael Vollback (NIU) 7-6(2)
2. Hanamichi Carvajal/Poonthong Komolpisut (TOL) def. Saul Berdullas/Armin Koschtojan (NIU) 6-3
3. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia/Christopher Norlin (NIU) def. Adam Kovac/Charlie Snow (TOL) 6-4