(from L to R--Kaelyn Uchida, Kasumi Goto, Tori Hironaga and Tia Kualii)

WAIKOLOA, Hawai`i--When all was said and done, much of the 2021 Pacific West Conference Women's Golf Championships went as scripted, with favorites Point Loma winning the team trophy and Academy of Art's Anahi Servin winning the medalist plaque for the third year in a row.

Those results were expected. The surprise of the tournament? Perhaps it was UH Hilo's fourth place finish, coming to fruition with their three best rounds of the 2020-21 season.

"It was a great way to finish the season," said Vulcan head coach Jim DeMello. "All four of our girls exceeded expectations. Each one of them played much better than their season averages. I think we were the surprise of the tournament, and I look forward to next year."

The Vulcans turned in scores of 320, 312 and 322 to finish at +114, ten strokes ahead of fifth place Holy Names (+124). Hawaii Pacific was behind the Hawks (+150) and Dominican was seventh (DQ).

The No. 16 nationally ranked Sea Lions (+64) won by 21 strokes over Academy of Art (+85). Biola was in third (+99).

Kaelyn Uchida and Tia Kualii both finished in the top ten to earn All-PacWest honors. Uchida (75-73-77) tied for seventh at +15, and Kualii (76-77-75) was tenth (+18). Tori Hironaga shot in the low 80's the entire tournament (80-82-83) and Kasumi Goto also stayed under 90 (89-80-87).

Overall, Uchida shot seven strokes better than her average, Kualii was nine shots better, Hironaga was a little more then ten shots better and Goto was four shots superior to her season average.

UH Hilo played with just four players all season and should be back up to steam next year with eight. "It was a great finish to build on," DeMello added.

In the medalist hunt, Servin got stronger each day. Trailing by three strokes after the first day, she shot torrid rounds of 69 on Tuesday and 67 on Wednesday to finish at -2 for her third PacWest title (72-69-67). She finished nine shots ahead of Dominican's Claire Shubin (+7), with third-place Aubrey Corpuz of Holy Names five shots behind Shubin (+12). 

The tournament was hosted by UH Hilo at the Waikoloa Beach Course. The 2022 tournament is scheduled to return to the Wigwam Country Club in Goodyear, Arizona.

2021 FINAL RESULTS PACWEST WOMEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS