ISLE FILE
UH men win WAC tennis title
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i won its first Western Athletic Conference men's tennis championship yesterday with a 4-2 win over second-seeded Fresno State at Las Cruces, N.M.
The Rainbow Warriors (8-10), seeded fourth and ranked 92nd nationally, were led by WAC Freshman of the Year Dennis Lajola. Lajola teamed with Jeff Fitch at No. 2 doubles to beat Denny Fafek and Taylor Leiby, 8-4, and also upset No. 83-ranked Rudolf Siwy at No. 1 singles, 7-6, 6-4.
Hawai'i fell behind 1-0 after Fresno State (17-9), ranked 49th nationally, earned the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. But singles victories by Lajola, Sascha Heinemann, Spence Mendoza and Fitch gave UH the title.
Heinemann and teammate Andreas Weber were named to the WAC first team in doubles, and both were named to the second team in singles.
Hawai'i's John Nelson was named WAC Coach of the Year.
UH advances to the 64-team NCAA Tournament for the first time. The NCAA Regionals are May 9 to 11, at a site to be determined.
In WAC women's honors, UH's Sophie Kobuch was named to the singles first team. Kobuch and Chloe Bihag were named to the doubles second team.
WATER POLO
STANFORD TOPS UH
Stanford scored the last three goals of the match to beat Hawai'i, 10-8, yesterday and claim third place at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in San Diego.
UCLA beat USC, 8-7, in the final to earn a berth to the NCAA Championships.
Lauren Silver scored a match-high three goals for Stanford (25-4).
Kelly Mason, Angela Turnbull and Leonie Van Der Molen each scored two goals for Hawai'i (20-10), which must wait to see if it will be awarded one of three at-large berths to the nationals.
SAILING
UH MISSES NATIONALS
The University of Hawai'i coed sailing team yesterday placed 10th at the Intercollegiate Sailing Association Western Semifinals in Long Beach, Calif., missing a chance to advance to the nationals by one spot.
Georgetown won the event with a low-best 112 points, with the top nine teams earning berths in the ICSA National Championships.
Sailing for UH, which scored 258 points, were Mike Scott, Mark Spector, Jackie McLoughlin and Becky Mabardy in the A division, and Andrew Meade and Pam Magasinn in the B division.
