Hawaii junior Cindy Nguyen’s 6-3, 6-3 singles win over Long Beach State’s Maeva Razakasoa gave the Rainbow Wahine tennis team a 4-3 upset of the top-seeded 49ers in the semifinals of the Big West tournament on Friday in Indian Wells, Calif.

The fourth-seeded Rainbow Wahine will go for the program’s first Big West title and second NCAA tournament berth when they face second-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the final today at 6 a.m.

UH’s win ended Long Beach State’s streak of 15 consecutive appearances in the Big West final. The 49ers won 12 titles in that span, including the last five, and had won 38 consecutive matches against Big West opponents.

LBSU won two of three doubles matches to claim the first point. UH then got singles wins from Roxanne Resma, Paulina Petriskova and Marina Hruba, while LBSU’s Julie Gerard and Hayley Thompson won their matches to knot the overall score at 3-3. Nguyen then completed her win over Razakasoa at No. 1 singles to clinch UH’s first appearance in the Big West final.

UH water polo advances in BWC tourney

Irene Gonzalez and Nikki-Marie Bell both scored four goals to lead the No. 8 Hawaii water polo team to a 10-6 win over No. 10 UC Davis in the first round of the Big West tournament on Friday in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Gonzalez scored three goals in the first quarter, Bell added three in the fourth and the Rainbow Wahine never trailed while advancing to face top-seeded Long Beach State today at 9 a.m. in a semifinal match at UC Santa Barbara’s Campus Pool. Carla Abellan and Taylor Molde also scored for UH, the defending tournament champion.

The Wahine (19-7) led 6-5 going into the final period and UC Davis (17-12) tied the match on a Sammy Preston goal with 6:58 left. Bell answered with the go-ahead goal 23 seconds later and added two more goals later in the period to seal the win.

Enriques, Ma‘a win volleyball awards

Stanford sophomore libero Evan Enriques and UCLA freshman setter-hitter Micah Ma‘a earned national awards from Off the Block, a national website dedicated to collegiate men’s volleyball.

Enriques (Kamehameha-Hawaii) won the inaugural Erik Shoji Award, named for the former Stanford All-American, Punahou School graduate and U.S. national team member. Enriques led the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with 2.59 digs per set with double-digit digs in eight MPSF matches for the Cardinal.

Hawaii senior libero Kolby Kanetake finished third in the voting. IPFW’s Luis Bertran was second and Enriques’ high school teammate Kekaulike Alameda, who plays for Barton, was fifth.

Ma‘a, a Punahou graduate, was named the national Server of the Year, finishing with an MPSF-best 54 aces.

Hawaii Hilo softball sweeps Chaminade

The Hawaii Hilo softball team took both games of a doubleheader against Chaminade on Friday at UHH Field.

In the first game, Cyanne Fernandez scattered six hits in a complete-game performance and Bailey Gaspar hit a two-run homer in the Vulcans’ 5-1 win.

Keani Passi had a run-scoring single for the Silverswords in the fourth.

In the second game, Chenoa Au batted 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and four RBIs and Danielle Wilson pitched 42⁄3 scoreless innings in Hilo’s 11-3 victory.

Gaspar scored three runs for the Vulcans.

Chaminade’s Rainelle Matsuoka had a two-run triple in the fifth.

The Vulcans improved to 30-17, 19-9 PacWest, while the Silverswords fell to 11-35, 6-24.