Hawai'i found its tennis fate in the right hands last night. Sascha Heinemann, the Rainbows' only four-time, all-conference player, rallied to win the decisive match and give UH a chance to defend its WAC Championship title today.

The third-seeded ''Bows upset second-seeded Fresno State, 4-3, in the late semifinal. Hawai'i, ranked 68th, will play top-seeded Boise State, ranked 20th, for the title at noon today at the UH Tennis Complex.

Heinemann, a senior from Germany who started Hawai'i's charge into the national rankings when he was named WAC Freshman of the Year in 2006, defeated FSU's Remi Boutillier, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, on the No. 4 court long after every other match had ended. That gave the 'Bows (9-9) the point they needed after a heartbreaking loss in doubles 3 hours earlier, when Heinemann and Craig Faulk had three match points — and fought off three more — before losing that decisive match.

Heinemann and Boutillier stayed on serve despite a flurry of break opportunities, until Heinemann took a 5-4 lead. After letting five break chances get away in Boutillier's previous service game, he got this one on his first try. Heinemann was down love-40 on his serve twice in the final set and still won his 11th consecutive match.

"That guy (Boutillier) was very good, very smart," said UH coach John Nelson. "A couple shots just in or out by a couple inches — a couple of Sascha's were barely in and a couple of his were barely out."

After the doubles disappointment, UH freshman Leo Rosenberg came out and blasted to a 6-3, 6-0 victory to tie the match at 1. Jeff Fitch put UH up with a 6-2, 6-4 win and Dennis Lajola, ranked 60th, made it 3-1 when he powered through 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1.

The Bulldogs closed the gap when junior Andreas Weber fell to 61st-ranked Rudolf Siwy. Then freshman Philipp Eberhard, after a huge comeback to win the first set in a tiebreaker, fell in three sets to leave Heinemann and Boutillier as the last men standing.

"I don't know how I won," Heinemann said. "I stayed with it, kept playing, kept fighting and the fans were great. That helped a lot. They seriously were my second man out there. They really, really helped me."

Boise State (22-7) beat New Mexico State, 4-1, in the morning semifinal.

Fresno State won its eighth straight WAC women's championship, beating Boise State, 4-3.