INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—The top-seeded University of Hawai'i women's tennis team fell in the Big West Tennis Championship match to second-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 4-1 on Sunday morning at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
 
Hawai'i and UC Santa Barbara went the distance in doubles. UCSB's No. 3 team of Stephanie Yamada and Natalie Da Silveira held off UH's Marina Hruba and Michelle Pits by a break, 7-5. But Hawai'i's No. 2 duo of Cindy Nguyen and Klara Pribylova evened things with a tie-breaker win over Amanda Atanasson and Melissa Baker, 7-6 (5). The doubles point was decided on the No. 1 court where UH's 64^th-ranked pair of Petra Melounova and Roxanne Resma fell short in a tie-breaker to UCSB's Palina Dubavets and Stefani Stojic, 7-6 (1).
 
Hawai'i's Nguyen tied the match at 1-1 opening singles play with a straight set 6-3, 6-1 win on the No. 2 court over Dubavets. But, the Gauchos followed by winning the next three-straight matches to capture their eighth conference tournament title in program history. UCSB's No. 4 Stojic defeated Resma, 6-4, 6-2 while Atanasson held off Nikola Dolakova, 6-4, 6-3. The Gauchos' No. 6 Yamada then clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Pits for the4-1 win.
 
For Hawai'i, it was the final match for the team's lone senior Cindy Nguyen who won both her singles and doubles matches to end her decorated career.  She finished her season with a 13-6 overall record while going 6-1 in conference while raising her career record to 62-30 in singles overall. During her four year career, she became the only Rainbow Wahine to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship in both 2014 and '15 and she is the only player in program history to be named conference (Big West) Player of the Year.
 
It is the second straight season that the Gauchos have defeated the Rainbow Wahine in the conference tournament's championship game. But the future is bright as the 'Bows are a young team with five freshman, two sophomores and two juniors. 

Big West Women's Tennis Tournament Final
UC Santa Barbara 4, Hawaii 1
Apr 30, 2017
at Indian Wells, CA (Indian Wells Tennis Garden)

Singles competition - Order of finish: 2,4,5,6 
1. Petra Melounova (UH) vs. Dubavets, Palina (UCSB) 7-6 (7-5), 4-1, unfinished
2. Cindy Nguyen (UH) def. Da Silveira, Natalie (UCSB) 6-3, 6-1
3. Marina Hruba (UH) vs. Gilbertson, Jaimee (UCSB) 6-2, 4-6, 0-0, unfinished
4. Stojic, Stefani (UCSB) def. Roxanne Resma (UH) 6-4, 6-2
5. Atanasson, Amanda (UCSB) def. Nikola Dolakova (UH) 6-4, 6-3
6. Yamada, Stephanie (UCSB) def. Michelle Pits (UH) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition - Order of finish: 3,2,1
1. Dubavets, Palina/Stojic, Stefani (UCSB) def. Petra Melounova/Roxanne Resma (UH) 7-6 (7-1)
2. Cindy Nguyen/Klara Pribylova (UH) def. Atanasson, Amanda/Baker, Melissa (UCSB) 7-6 (7-5)
3. Yamada, Stephanie/Da Silveira, Natalie (UCSB) def. Marina Hruba/Michelle Pits (UH) 7-5

Match Notes:
UC Santa Barbara 17-9
Hawaii 16-7
T-2:40