Florence shines at Margaret River

Hawaii’s John John Florence grabbed his first heat victory of the season Friday with a pulsating win over Australia’s Dion Atkinson at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia.

Florence nailed several aerials and got barreled a couple of times on his way to a 17.60 two-wave score. Atkinson was well back at 13.43.

Later, Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz defeated Australia’s Matt Wilkinson 15.83-12.77. In the final men’s heat of the day, Bede Durbidge of Australia topped Hawaii’s Fred Patacchia 13.03-12.67.

When the men finished for the day, the women took over. Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, the reigning world tour champion, took out Hawaii’s Malia Manuel 16.50-9.60, advancing to the semifinals, where she’ll face Stephanie Gilmore of Australia.

HPU softball team wins 1, loses 1

The Hawaii Pacific softball team split a pair in the Tournament of Champions with a 3-0 loss to Cal State Monterey Bay and an 8-4 win over Northwest Nazarene on Friday in Turlock, Calif.

The Sea Warriors’ offense struggled with just two hits against Monterey Bay, but picked up nine hits in the nightcap. HPU’s Keila Elderts provided three of those hits against Northwest Nazarene, including a double and a triple, while Dorian Acierto added a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Sea Warriors dropped to 15-16 and will face UC San Diego and Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday to close out the tourney.

HPU wallops UH Hilo in baseball

Joshua Garcia struck out six as Hawaii Pacific defeated Hawaii Hilo, 9-1, on Friday at Hans L’Orange field.

HPU (20-13, 14-11 PacWest) recorded 16 hits against the Vulcans (10-22, 8-17). Hawaii Hilo’s Jeremy Dela Cruz took the loss, allowing five hits and three runs in 11⁄2 innings.

UH water polo falls to Cal State Northridge

No. 7 Cal State Northridge delivered a 9-8 double-overtime loss to the No. 9 Hawaii women’s water polo team on Friday in Northridge, Calif.

The Rainbow Wahine held an 8-5 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Matadors responded with three goals, including a score in the final two seconds to send the game into overtime. Kelcie Ferreira handed Hawaii (13-9, 1-2 Big West) its fourth straight loss with the game-winning goal at 41 seconds left.

Hawaii will face UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 9 a.m. Hawaii time.

BYUH stays perfect in women’s tennis

The No. 3 BYU-Hawaii women’s tennis team remained perfect with a 7-2 win over No. 14 Academy of Art on Friday in San Francisco. The Seasiders won five of six singles matches and two thrillers on the doubles court.

BYU-Hawaii will face Mills College on Saturday for its last match on the mainland.