INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—The No. 4-seeded University of Hawai'i women's tennis team upset top-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 4-3 in the semifinals of the Big West Tennis Tournament at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Saturday morning. The Rainbow Wahine almost squandered a 3-0 lead, but senior
Maayan Sela came through in the clutch to clinch the win to propel the Rainbow Wahine to the Championship Match on Sunday, April 28.
Hawai'i had taken a 3-0 lead before UCSB battled back to knot the match at 3-3. A ticket to the Championship Match hinged on the final match in play between Sela and Elizaveta Volodko (UCSB) which went the distance at three sets.
UH got off to a solid start by winning the doubles point for an early 1-0 lead. UH's No. 1 duo of
Petra Melounova and
Nikola Dolakova opened the day with a 6-3 win over a Juliana Valero and Stephanie Yamada. UCSB answered with their No. 2 team of Elizaveta Volodko and Amit Lev-Ari defeating
Roxanne Resma and
Michelle Pits, 6-3 to even the doubles at 1-1. But Hawai'i's No. 3 team of
Alzbeta Houbova and Sela secured the point with a 6-3 win over Dominika Paterova and Tiffany Lagarde, 6-3.
In singles the 'Bows extended their lead to 3-0 with 60
th-ranked Melounova winning her sixth-straight match with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Lev-Ari. Pits closed out a straight-set win over Paterova on the No. 4 court, 6-4, 6-4. It marked Pits' sixth-straight win as well.
But the Gauchos battled back to tie the score notching three, three-set wins on the No. 3, 5, and 6 courts. The No. 2 match between Sela and Volodko became the deciding match. Sela edged out Voldko to take the first set, 7-6 (4_ but fell in the second set, 2-6. The third set was tied at 4-4 before Sela was able to break Volodko to take a 5-4 lead. From there, she served the final game to win in three, 6-4.
Hawai'i (10-9) now has won its last seven consecutive wins. UC Santa Barbara, the regular season champions fell to 14-8 overall.
The Rainbow Wahine advance to its fourth-straight Big West Tournament Championship Match. The 'Bows will take on Long Beach State at 6:30 a.m. HT.
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