The ninth-ranked Hawaii Pacific women’s tennis team defeated No. 11 Academy of Art 4-2 in the NCAA Division II West Regional I final on Tuesday at the Kailua Racquet Club.
The win propels the Sharks (14-5) into next week’s NCAA Division II National Championships in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
The Urban Knights (14-6) took two of the three doubles matches to win the first point of the duel. The Sharks tied the contest on a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles by No. 34 Elodie Busson over No. 4 Klara Thell-Lenntorp.
The lead for the Sharks grew to 3-1 as Mihoki Miyahara won her singles match at No. 3 against Taisiia Andrieieva 6-1 , 6-1 and Heloise Le Normand took her match at No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-2, over Paula Alcantara.
Academy of Art won No. 5 singles 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to close to 3-2. HPU answered with a match-clinching 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win by Elisa Elhadj at No. 2 over Alma Thell-Lenntorp.
HPU improved to 3-0 over Academy of Art this season.
Moore advances at Corona Bali
Hawaii’s Carissa Moore fought her way out of an elimination round heat of Tuesday’s Corona Bali Protected, the third stop on the WSL Championship Tour, in three- to four-foot surf.
Moore, a three-time World Surf League champion, advanced to the Round of 16 with a score of 10.67, easily outpacing Paige Hareb (New Zealand, 8.33) and Kailani Johnson (Indonesia, 2.33).
Moore will face Hareb in the Round of 16. Other Hawaii surfers already into the Round of 16 are Coco Ho and Malia Manuel.
On the men’s side, Ezekiel Lau and Sebastian Zietz were eliminated in round two. Lau scored a 10.07, while Zietz recorded an 8.40. Hawaii surfers into the Round of 32 are John John Florence and Seth Moniz.
Competing in the Red Bull Airborne Bali Qualifying Round are Hawaii surfers Eli Hanneman, Matt Meola, Mason Ho, Finn McGill and Kalani David.
UH softball receives eight BWC awards
The University of Hawaii softball team had eight players named to the All-Big West Conference teams on Tuesday, the most for the program since 2013.
Making the first team were senior third baseman Nicole Lopez, senior pitcher Brittany Hitchcock and junior first baseman/catcher Callee Heen.
It was the fourth conference award for Lopez and her third on the first team. She led the conference with 45 runs scored and hit a career-high .353.
A four-time selection, Hitchcock (20-8, 1.76 ERA) was named to the first team for a second time. She is UH’s first 20-game winner since Kaia Parnaby won 39 in 2013.
Heen, a three-time honoree, led the Big West with 15 home runs while leading UH with a .374 batting average.
Making the second team was senior catcher Heather Cameron. Honorable mention honors went to junior utility Cheeks Ramos and sophomore centerfielder Brittnee Rossi. Izzy Dino and Mikaela Gandia-Mak were named to the All-Freshman team.
PacWest announces baseball awards
Hawaii Pacific’s Christian Kapeliela and Hawaii Hilo’s John Kea headlined the All-PacWest baseball team announced on Tuesday.
Kapeliela, a senior first baseman, received his second consecutive first-team accolade after setting the HPU single-season record with 72 hits. A sophomore relief pitcher, Kea recorded 10 saves to set a UHH single-season record when earning first-team honors.
Also named to the first team was Baldwin alum and Concordia-Irvine junior shortstop Haloa Dudoit, his third all-Pac West award.
Named to the second team were HPU’s Jordan Mopas (senior outfielder) and UHH’s Casey Yamauchi (freshman utility). On the third team were the Sharks’ Tanner Tokunaga (senior outfielder) and the Vulcans’ Dylan Spain (junior pitcher).
