Vulcans win PacWest golf title

Hawaii-Hilo edged Grand Canyon by one stroke to win the Hawaiian Airlines Pacific West Conference men’s golf championship yesterday in St. George, Utah.

Vulcans freshman Blake Snyder won the individual title as UH-Hilo finished with a three-round team score of 880, followed by Grand Canyon at 881 and Dixie State at 882. All five UH-Hilo scorers finished in the top 16 individually to give the Vulcans their second title in the past four years.

Snyder’s round of 75 gave him a total of 3-under par 213, three shots ahead of BYU-Hawaii’s Jon Scholari, whose 69 was the low round of the day at Sunbrook Golf Club.

BYUH placed fourth at 891, Hawaii Pacific was sixth at 910 and Chaminade finished ninth at 1,204.

Snyder was named PacWest co-player of the year and freshman of the year.

WAC honors for Lajola and Balentine

Hawaii’s Dennis Lajola and Samantha Balentine were named Western Athletic Conference athletes of the week yesterday in tennis and track and field.

Lajola, a senior from Aiea, has been honored twice this season and six times in his career. He won all three matches on the No. 1 singles court last week, sweeping ranked players Arthur Surreaux (No. 64) of New Mexico State, 6-1, 6-2, and Damian Hume (No. 120) of Boise State, 6-3, 6-1.

Balentine, a sophomore multi-event athlete for Hawaii, set a personal best in the high jump at last week’s Beach Invitational in California, clearing 5 feet 10. Her previous best was 5-8. She is now tied for the fourth-best high jump in school history. The mark ranks 21st nationally this season.

Balentine also placed 17th in the heptathlon at the California Invitational with a score of 4,628 points.

UH women sweep Albany

The Hawaii women’s tennis team closed its home schedule with a 7-0 win over Albany yesterday at the UH Tennis Complex.

UH (8-10) won the doubles point and swept all five singles matches, dropping just five games along the way. UH senior Natasha Zorec defeated Melissa Coughlin 6-0, 6-0 in her final home match. She also teamed with Xenia Suworowa for a doubles victory.

UH hoops banquet tickets available

There are still tickets available for the Hawaii men’s basketball team banquet tomorrow at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.

No host cocktails begin at 5:30 p.m., with the program to start at 6:30. Tickets are $100 each. Order forms are available at hawaiiathletics.com and may be returned to the UH basketball office today. Call Bobbie Omoto at 956-6501 for more information.

Ho wins heat in Rip Curl Pro

Hawaii’s Coco Ho won her first-round heat in the Rip Curl Pro today at Bells Beach in Australia and earned a bye into the third round of the women’s draw.

Carissa Moore and Alana Blanchard placed second in their heats and Melanie Bartels and Bethany Hamilton had third-place showings and will have to survive the second round to advance.

In the men’s draw, Dusty Payne finished second in his heat with 10.50 points and will take on Kieren Perrow in the second round.