Soeda, Ginepri to meet in tennis final

Top seed Go Soeda and unseeded Robby Ginepri advanced to today’s final of the Honolulu Challenger at Kailua Racquet Club.

Soeda, of Japan, knocked off countryman and No. 3 seed Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday’s semifinals.

"Tough match because we are good friends," said Soeda, ranked No. 99 in the world. "I will try my best and I hope to enjoy the final."

Ginepri, of Kennesaw, Ga., beat No. 7 seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

"I wasn’t playing great tennis, but I found a way to win," he said.

Ginepri has three career ATP singles titles and was ranked as high as No. 15 in the world in 2006.

In Saturday’s doubles semifinals, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Amer Delic and Los Angeles’ Travis Rettenmaier beat Taipei’s Hsin-Han Lee and Japan’s Bumpei Sato 6-3, 7-5; and Jack Sock, of Overland Park, Kan., and Nicholas Monroe, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., toppled Robert Kendrick, of Orlando, Fla., and Bobby Reynolds, of Acworth, Ga., 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Hurst wins world junior surf title

Kauai’s Leila Hurst claimed the ASP World Junior surfing title by advancing to the semifinals of the season-ending Billabong World Junior Championships on Saturday at Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia.

Hurst, France’s Joanne Defay and Australia’s Philippa Anderson were the three females in contention for the junior title entering the event.

Hurst was eliminated in the semifinals by Waianae’s Alessa Quizon, but Hurst also got help from Quizon, who beat Anderson in the final. Anderson would have won the junior title with a victory Saturday.

Satterwhite, BYUH dump Grand Canyon

Gary Satterwhite scored 17 points and four teammates also scored in double figures as host Brigham Young-Hawaii beat Grand Canyon 79-75 on Saturday in a PacWest men’s basketball game.

Pablo Coro added 14 points, Brady Hurst had 13, Bracken Funk contributed 12 and Junior Ale scored 11 for BYU-Hawaii. The Seasiders finished 27-for-48 from the field, including 11-for-19 from 3-point range.

BYU-Hawaii improved to 10-7 and 7-1, while Grand Canyon dropped to 10-6 and 4-4.

Cal Baptist edges Hawaii-Hilo

Justus Von Wright scored 18 points, Ivan Patterson added 11 and Luke Evans had 10 as California Baptist beat host Hawaii-Hilo 59-58 on Saturday in a PacWest men’s basketball game.

The Vulcans’ Paul Batausa made a free throw with 4 seconds remaining to cut Cal Baptist’s lead to 59-58, but missed the second attempt.

Von Wright missed two free throws also with 4 seconds left, but Hilo couldn’t get off a final shot. Terrell Mack scored 13 points for Hilo, which has lost five in a row.

Cal Baptist improved to 13-2 and 7-1, while Hilo fell to 7-9 and 1-7.

UHH women pull off comeback victory

Thea Hanato-Smith hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3 seconds remaining as host Hawaii-Hilo rallied past California Baptist 58-55 in a PacWest women’s basketball game Saturday.

Hotia Vaaimamao scored 16 points, Kirsten Shimizu added 12 and Hillary Hurley had 10 for the Vulcans, who trailed 34-22 at halftime. Hawaii-Hilo went on an 18-6 run over the first 9 minutes of the second half.

Hawaii-Hilo improved to 8-9 and 5-4, while Cal Baptist fell to 13-3 and 6-2.

Grand Canyon routs BYUH women

Jallisa Butler scored 21 points, Maylinn Smith added 13 and Joslynn Frazier had 10 as No. 11 Grand Canyon routed host Brigham Young-Hawaii 74-51 on Saturday in a PacWest women’s basketball game.

Danna Lynn Hooper scored 12 points, Taylor Mann added 11 and Shayla Washington had 10 for BYU-Hawaii, which committed 33 turnovers.

Grand Canyon improved to 14-2 and 6-2, while BYU-Hawaii fell to 3-13 and 2-6.

Apine breaks UH triple jump record

University of Hawaii senior Madara Apine broke her own school record in the triple jump Saturday at the University of Washington Invitational at Seattle.

Apine, of Ikskile, Latvia, had a mark of 40 feet, 9.5 inches. She was the top collegiate finisher and placed second overall.

Apine set the previous record of 40-1.5 last year.