The University of Hawaii at Hilo men’s tennis team won its first PacWest tennis title, defeating top seed Azusa Pacific 4-3 on Saturday in Surprise, Ariz.

The Vulcans fell behind early, as Azusa Pacific took the doubles point after claiming the first two doubles matches.

But after the Cougars claimed the first point of singles with a win in the No. 3 match, the Vulcans stormed back via a pair of major upsets.

On the No. 1 singles court, Hilo’s Martin Soukal pulled off a stunning 6-3, 6-3 win over Jakob Schnaitter, the No. 4-ranked player in the country and the PacWest Player of the Year. Meanwhile on the No. 2 court, Hilo’s Alessio Demichelis battled for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over Sam Sippel, the No. 9-ranked player in the country.

After Hilo split the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches, the title came down to the No. 4 singles match. There, Luca Checchia rallied to defeat Leyton Bohren 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 7-5 to clinch the win for Hilo.

With the win, Hilo clinches an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament West Region. The Vulcans will find out their seeding on May 4.

>> In the third-place match, Hawaii Pacific defeated Concordia-Irvine 4-3.

The Sharks won the doubles point and the first two singles matches against the Eagles, but dropped the next three singles matches to bring the match down to the No. 2 singles match, where Felix Eining defeated Patrick Wong 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

HPU women fall in PacWest tennis title

The Hawaii Pacific women’s tennis team fell 4-3 to Azusa Pacific in the PacWest Conference championship on Saturday in Surprise, Ariz.

The Cougars claimed an early lead after taking the doubles point. The two teams then split the next four singles matches before HPU’s Marleen Tilgner scored an upset win over sixth-ranked Petra Ivankovic 6-4, 6-4 to tie the match at three. This brought the match down to the No. 3 singles, where Azusa Pacific’s Jacky Wagner defeated Mihoki Miyahara 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

The Cougars earn the PacWest’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, while HPU will have to wait to see its fate on May 4, when tournament selections are announced.

The loss ends the Sharks’ bid for a three-peat as the two-time defending champion.

Ching stretches lead at Mid-Pacific Open

Alex Ching carded a 4-under-par 68 on Saturday to build a six-shot lead entering the final round of the 63rd Mid-Pacific Open in Lanikai.

Ching started the morning with a bogey on No. 10, got the shot back with a birdie on the par-3 11th hole and posted a 33 on his second nine to move to 8 under for the tournament. Former PGA Tour pro Dean Wilson opened his round with an eagle on No. 10 and shot a 31 on Mid-Pacific Golf Club’s back nine. But he played the front side at 4 over to fall back to 2 under.

Jared Sawada, the 36-hole co-leader, and Tyler Ota finished with rounds of 77 and are nine and 10 shots back.

Matthew Ma leads the championship flight at 2 over after shooting a 74 on Saturday. Ma enters today’s final round two shots ahead of Peter Jung, who shot a 71.

Saint Louis freshman Tyler Tamayori holds an 11-shot lead in the A flight and Marcus Yamamoto, the son of Aloha Section PGA Hall of Famer Guy Yamamoto, is two shots ahead in the B flight.

UH stifles UC Davis for water polo win

No. 6 Hawaii shut out No. 9 UC Davis in the second half and the Rainbow Wahine water polo team closed the regular season with a 7-4 win on Saturday at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

Lot Stertefeld scored two goals to lead UH (9-1), which had six players score in the senior day victory. The Wahine trailed 4-3 at halftime and took the lead in the third quarter on goals by Libby Gault, Stertefeld and Lara Luka.

UH captured the Big West regular-season championship and will next play in the Big West tournament May 1-2 in San Diego.

Vulcans and Sharks split in softball

The Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Hilo softball teams split a doubleheader on Saturday at Howard Okita Softball Field, with Hilo winning the first game 4-3 and HPU claiming the second 9-1.

In the first game, the Sharks (4-11) jumped ahead to a 4-0 lead after two innings before Hilo rallied for three runs in the fourth inning. But HPU’s Malia Torres escaped a jam in the sixth before shutting down the Vulcans in the seventh to preserve the win.

In the second game, the Vulcans (13-6) blew a 1-1 game open in the fifth inning, with 12 hitters going to the plate, collecting eight hits and seven runs.

The Vulcans would add a run in the sixth to clinch the mercy-rule victory.