SURPRISE, Ariz. – Audrey Rafols was honored with the PacWest Tournament Sportsmanship Award but Dominican women's tennis fell 4-2 Saturday to University of Hawai'i at Hilio at its final match of the PacWest Championships at Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club.
 
While Rafols was honored for her sportsmanship, she also impressed with her play at the tournament as she finished undefeated in singles play as she added a 6-2, 6-2 victory against the Vulcans' McKenna Mountain. Rafols will assuredly see a boost in her rankings after her successful tournament that included a victory over a higher ranked opponent yesterday.
 
UHH got the first team point of the day as Hikari Osaki and McKenna Mountain took No. 3 doubles 6-4 with Julia Barden and Satoho Toriumi winning 6-4 on the second court moments later. Touriumi won 6-2, 6-0 in No. 4 singles to make it 2-0 Vulcans, but the momentum was short lived. Rafols was the next to finish to close within one and Gina Dudley followed a minute later with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Nanami Okamoto to tie the team score 2-2.
 
Barden won 6-0, 6-2 in No. 5 singles to put UHH a point from the clinch, but Dominican continued to battle. Deepalakshmi Vanaraja won the first set 6-1 for the Penguins but Osaki answered with a 6-2 victory. The third set went back and forth with Vanaraja jumping ahead 2-0 before Osaki won the next four games to take her own two-game lead in the set. Vanaraja answered winning the next three games to keep Dominican's hopes alive, but Osaki held serve to push the match into a tiebreaker. Osaki took the early advantage and did not relent as she claimed the 7-6 (2) victory to claim the match for her team.