With yet another heart-stopping comeback in the final set of the final match, second-seeded Hawaii won its first conference title in women’s tennis Saturday by upsetting top-seeded Fresno State 4-3.

In Las Cruces, N.M., senior Aglae Van den Bergh rallied to beat Anne Susdorf at No. 6 singles. That gave the Rainbow Wahine their first Western Athletic Conference championship.

In the Wahine’s first two matches, against Nevada and Idaho, freshman Martina Kostalova rallied to win the decisive match in three sets.

"They are very mentally disciplined," seventh-year coach Jun Hernandez said of his players. "Regardless of the situation, whether they are up or down, they just kept fighting. We did what we needed to do and worried only about what we can control and not other things."

Kostalova’s heroics got the UH women, ranked 61st nationally, to their first conference final. They had never even reached a WAC semifinal until 2009.

The UH men, who fell to Idaho in Saturday’s semifinals, captured their first WAC championship in 2008 and defended successfully the next two years. This weekend it was the women’s turn to break through.

Hawaii opened the final by winning the doubles point against the 51st-ranked Bulldogs (20-5), who had captured eight of the previous nine WAC titles.

Junior Katarina Poljakova and freshman Jamie Pawid then won in straight sets at the Nos. 2 and 3 singles courts to put UH ahead 3-0. The Bulldogs tied the match with victories on the Nos. 1, 4 and 5 courts.

Van den Bergh lost the first set to Susdorf 4-6 but came back to clinch the title, 7-5 and 6-2.

Hernandez, reached by phone in New Mexico, called it the biggest win in the history of the program, in what has become its best season in some 30 years.

"It’s the first time in school history we won a conference championship," he said. "The first time we have been ranked in the nation, the highest seed we’ve had going into the tournament, so a lot of first times. I was just telling the girls they are going to forever be in the record book."

The win ended Hawaii’s 12-match losing streak against Fresno, dating to 1991. It puts UH (14-6) into its first NCAA tournament, with regionals scheduled May 11-12.