Box Score KAILUA, Hawaii -- The University of North Dakota women's tennis team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 4-3 win over Hawaii Pacific on Friday night from Kailua, Hawaii. 

"The best things we did today were battle, persevere, deal with adversity and show grit," said Head Coach Tom Boysen. "I can't say that that was the case in every position, but certainly it is fair to say that as a team we showed those characteristics tonight. As coaches, that's encouraging and rewarding to see. Those things will get a team through some tough times."

The Fighting Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead in doubles action, with wins on the No. 2 and 3 courts. The middle pairing of Jule Schulte and Nore Heinitz opened it up with a 6-4 triumph before Andrea Pineda and Alyssa Giupponi cemented to 1-0 advantage with a 7-5 victory from the bottom spot. The Hawks were going to make it a sweep in two-person action, with Ethel Li and Aziza Aubin holding a 6-5 lead at the No. 1 position when play was halted. 

"The women had to wait a long time to play today," said Boysen. "We haven't played an outdoor team match since last April, and we didn't get to practice yesterday due to the storms here."

UND extended the advantage to 2-0 with the play moving to singles, as Giupponi rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 victory on the No. 6 court, but the Sharks rallied back with two straight wins to even the contest at 2-2. 

With the match all square, Schulte restored the advantage for the visitors with a 7-6, 6-2 win on the No. 2 court and Heinitz sealed the overall match victory by a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 score from the No. 4 position. 

"It was definitely good that Alyssa and Jule managed to pull out their matches in straight sets to put points on the board at those critical moments," said Boysen. "Nore did what she had done for four years at UND -- break down her opponent's best game, make adjustments to solve problems and simply put, win matches. It was very rewarding to see her clinch the match for UND today." 

North Dakota will look to sweep the weekend tomorrow afternoon against Hawaii at 3 p.m. 

For more information on North Dakota women's tennis, follow on social media @UNDwtennis or visit FightingHawks.com.