Hawaii junior Irene Gonzalez scored three goals, senior Claire Nixon assisted on four and the Rainbow Wahine water polo team advanced to the Big West tournament championship game with a 9-6 win over Long Beach State on Saturday in Irvine, Calif.

Gonzalez posted her 10th hat trick of the season before halftime as top-seeded UH (21-4) avenged last year’s semifinal loss to LBSU (12-14). The Wahine will face host and third-seeded UC Irvine (13-13) in the tournament final today at Anteater Aquatic Complex at 11 a.m. Hawaii time. The winner earns an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Seven UH players contributed to the scoring and Gonzalez’ third goal of the first half gave the Wahine a 6-2 lead. The margin grew to 9-3 by the end of the third period and the Wahine held off the 49ers’ rally in the fourth to advance.

Freshman Molly DiLalla made seven saves for the Wahine, who converted on four of seven power play opportunities while LBSU went 1-for-5.

Hruba pushes Wahine into BWC final

Hawaii senior Marina Hruba rallied from a set down to earn the deciding point in the Rainbow Wahine tennis team’s 4-3 upset of top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the Big West tournament on Saturday in Indian Wells, Calif.

The fourth-seeded Rainbow Wahine advanced to the Big West final for the third straight season and will face third-seeded Cal State Fullerton today for the title.

UH lost to UCSB in the last two tournament finals and dropped the doubles point in Saturday’s semifinal. The Wahine got singles wins from Klara Pribylova, Petra Melounova and Roxanne Resma while Nikola Dolakova and Michelle Pits lost their matches. Hruba, playing at No. 3 singles, fell behind UCSB’s Amanda Atanasson 3-0 in the third set but came back to tie the set at 4-4. She broke Atanasson at 5-5 then held serve to close out a 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 win that took more than 3 hours to complete.

UH softball swept at UC Riverside

UC Riverside edged the University of Hawaii softball team in the first game of Saturday’s Big West doubleheader then routed the Rainbow Wahine in the finale to earn the series win in Riverside, Calif.

A day after UH’s 11-0 blowout of the Highlanders, the Wahine (21-23, 5-10 BWC) managed three hits against UCR’s Tayler Misfeldt in a 1-0 loss to open the doubleheader. Misfeldt (15-10) struck out eight in a complete-game win. UH’s Dana Thomsen (13-14) gave up five hits and struck out three in the loss. UCR’s Hanna Rodriguez went 3-for-3 and drove in the game’s lone run with a double in the third inning.

UCR (29-10, 6-9) led 4-0 after two innings in the second game and finished off a 10-2 win with a six-run bottom of the fifth. UH freshman Dominique Martinez (1-4) gave up six runs on nine hits in 41⁄3 innings in the loss. Amanda Lynch drove in three runs for UCR.

UH opens its final home series of the season on Friday against Cal State Northridge at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

Nowack helps HPU blank Chaminade

Gabriella Nowack pitched a four-hitter as the Hawaii Pacific softball team beat Chaminade 3-0 on Saturday at Howard A. Okita Field.

Sienna Santiago singled, walked twice, scored and drove in a run for the Sharks (22-18, 15-14 PacWest).

Kayla Russell went 2-for-3 for the Silverswords (10-31, 6-23).

Hawaii Hilo baseball sweeps Holy Names

The Hawaii Hilo baseball team picked up a pair of one-run victories over Holy Names on Saturday in Alameda, Calif.

In the first game, RJ Romo scored twice in the Vulcans’ 6-5 win.

In the seven-inning second game, Travis Burleson pitched a six-hitter with eight strikeouts in Hilo’s 2-1 victory. The Vulcans’ Phillip Steering singled, drew three walks, drove in a run and scored a run.

The Vulcans improved to 19-23, 15-19 PacWest, while the Hawks fell to 10-36, 6-30.

>> Hawaii Pacific split a doubleheader with Academy of Art in Oakland, Calif.

In the first game, Evan-Thomas May pitched a complete game and Wyatt Hoppie batted 2-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs in the Sharks’ 9-3 triumph.

In the seven-inning second game, Ryan Torres-Torioka went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in HPU’s 6-2 loss.

The Sharks moved to 18-26, 12-24 PacWest, while the Urban Knights went to 24-21, 19-17.

Boyce to speak at Honolulu QB Club

University of Hawaii track and field/cross country coach Tim Boyce will be the featured speaker at Monday’s meeting of the Honolulu Quarterback Club at the Maple Garden restaurant.

Boyce was promoted to head coach in July. Prior to that, he was associate coach for distance events, as well as the cross country assistant coach.

The luncheon starts at 11:30 a.m., with the program to start at noon. The cost is $16. The meeting is open to the general public.