INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—The No. 4-seeded University of Hawai'i women's tennis team upset No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara, 4-3 in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The Rainbow Wahine and Gauchos were locked in a  3-3 tie, but senior Marina Hruba's comeback, three-set victory clinched the win to propel the 'Bows into Sunday's championship match against No. 3 Cal State Fullerton. Hawai'i improves to 12-6 overall while UCSB fell to 12-12.
 
Hawai'i and Cal State Fullerton will face off in the BWC championship match on Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. HT at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. This is the third consecutive season that the 'Bows have advanced to the finals. UH fell both in 2016 and '17 to UC Santa Barbara.
 
The Gauchos took an early 1-0 lead as they snapped UH's five-match streak of winning the doubles point. UCSB captured the point by winning on the No. 1 court and the No. 2 court.  At No. 1 UCSB's Palina Dubavets and Natalie Da Silveira defeated UH's Petra Melounova and Roxanne Resma, 6-1. The Gauchos' No. 2, Lise Sentenac and Amit Lev Ari secured the point with a 6-4 win over Klara Pribylova and Nikola Dolakova.
 
In singles, Pribylova started things with a 6-1, 7-6 (0) win on the No. 4 court over Lev Ari to tie the match at 1-1. 80^th-ranked Melounova then battled back to win at No. 1 over Dubavets in three sets to give UH a 2-1 lead, 6-0,1-6,6-2.
 
But UC Santa Barbara tied things up at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 5 with Stephanie Yamada holding off Michelle Pits.
 
The Gauchos then took a 3-2 lead as UCSB's No. 2 Da Silveira came back after falling in the first set  to down UH's Dolakova, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

UH's No. 6 Resma battled and finished strong to defeat UCSB's Sentenac in a three-set win, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 to force a 3-3 tie.
 
The match then hinged on the No. 3 court in a three-hour-plus, marathon match between UH's Hruba and UCSB's Amanda Atanasson. Atanasson won the first set 6-2. But Hruba gritted out a second set tie-breaker 7-6 (5) to force a third set. Atanasson then jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the third set. Hruba however then launched an epic comeback to eventually tie things at 4-4. Things remained tied at 5-5 before Hruba broke Atanasson to take a 6-5 lead and then held her serve to complete the comeback win, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5.
 
No. 3 Cal State Fullerton swept No. 7 Cal Poly to advance to the finals. UH lost a heartbreaker to the Titans , 4-3 earlier this season on March 17 in Honolulu.

2018 Big West Women's Tennis Tournament Semifinals
Hawaii 4, UC Santa Barbara 3
Apr 28, 2018 at Indian Wells, CA
(Indian Wells Tennis Garden)

Singles competition
1. #80 Petra Melounova (UH) def. Palina Dubavets (UCSB) 6-0, 1-6, 6-2
2. Natalie Da Silveira (UCSB) def. Nikola Dolakova (UH) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
3. Marina Hruba (UH) def. Amanda Atanasson (UCSB) 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
4. Klara Pribylova (UH) def. Amit Lev Ari (UCSB) 6-1, 7-6 (7-0)
5. Stephanie Yamada (UCSB) def. Michelle Pits (UH) 6-4, 6-4
6. Roxanne Resma (UH) def. Lise Sentenac (UCSB) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Palina Dubavets/Natalie Da Silveira (UCSB) def. Petra Melounova/Roxanne Resma (UH) 6-1
2. Lise Sentenac/Amit Lev Ari (UCSB) def. Klara Pribylova/Nikola Dolakova (UH) 6-4
3. Stephanie Yamada/Amanda Atanasson (UCSB) vs. Marina Hruba/Alzbeta Houbova (UH) 4-4, unfinished

Match Notes:
Hawaii 12-6
UC Santa Barbara 12-13
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,1,5,2,6,3)
T-4:40