SURPRISE, Ariz.--Two of the biggest upsets of the tournament and a gutsy performance in the last match of the day helped proved the old adage the third time really is the charm.

UH Hilo, making their third consecutive trip to the Pacific West Conference championship, stunned No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific to claim their first-ever league title, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Center.

The Vulcan tennis team won the school its first PacWest banner in any sport since 2014. They celebrated with the PacWest trophy and an automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional tournament in two weeks, also in Surprise. The Vulcans are now 8-2 on the season and the Cougars are 17-4. It was APU's first loss to a Division II school this season.

UHH, who lost to APU in their only other meeting this year (4-3), won in the most improbable of ways--upsetting the top two ranked players in the conference after losing the doubles point.  They won it in the last match of the day, with Luca Checchia winning the final two sets by 7-5 scores after dropping the first set in tiebreaker.

But more on that in just a few paragraphs.

The Cougars took the doubles point fairly quickly, winning on court one first (6-2) and then on court two (6-3) to take a 1-0 lead into singles. 

In singles play, APU's Ryan Nuno topped Chun En Wu on court three (6-2, 6-2) and UHH's Joshua Liu took out Ian Lee on court five (6-2, 6-3) to make the count 2-1, Cougars.

UHH's Martin Soukal, who won all three of his singles matches in the tournament, next pulled off the upset of the championships with a sweeping of PacWest Player of the Year Jakob Schnaitter. Soukal took out APU's No. 1 player in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. Schnaitter came into the match 17-0, which included wins over two Division I players, and he hadn't lost a set all season long. The German is ranked No. 4 nationally in the latest ITA listing.

Alessio Demichelis was looking for a similar path against No. 9 ranked Sam Sippel, who came into the match 14-1 on the year. Demichelis had to default his match on Friday in the first set against Hawaii Pacific, making him the most likely candidate to leave the court first against a player like Sippel. Additionally, Sippel won 6-2, 6-0 the first time that they met.

But the freshman from Italy battled, winning the first set 7-5. He dropped the second set (6-3) and was down in the third, 4-1. It looked to be over. With both players ailing, Demichelis somehow rallied back, winning the next five games to take the match, 6-4. That put the Vulcans up 3-2, with matches remaining on courts four and six, both in the third set.

No. 6 was the next score in the books, and it went much longer than initially looked. APU's Cole Rassner won the first set 6-2 over Santiago Di Loreto, and was up 4-2 in the second set. But the UHH lefty stormed back, winning five of the next seven games to send it to a third set (7-5).

In the third set, Rassner was just two points from claiming the match at 5-3, 30-15. But Di Loreto rallied back to win the game (5-4). The next point (no-ad), decided the match with Rassner taking the 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 marathon. 

That left the team scored at 3-3, with Checchia and Leyton Bohren on court four, which was now essentially center court with both teams and everyone within shouting distance gathered around. 

Bohren, the son of APU head coach Mark Bohren, had won the first set in a tiebreaker. Checchia roared back to take the second set (7-5). Bohren took the first two games of the third set, but Checchia won the next three (3-2). 

Bohren took the ad-point in the next game to tie it at 3-3. They then took turns breaking each other (4-4), and Checchia then won his serve with four straight points to go up 5-4.

As the drama continued to unfold, the net broke on a Bohren serve causing a delay. When play resumed, Bohren won on his serve to tie it at 5-5. Checchia then held serve to go up 6-5. 

On Bohren's serve, tied at 15-15, Checchia took the next three points and the match to send his teammates storming to the court in celebration. 

"We have been limping along the last few weeks with various injuries, but really stepped up today and throughout this tournament," said Vulcan head coach Kallen Mizuguchi. "It was a really gutsy performance, all across the line-up. I couldn't be prouder of our guys."

The Vulcans receive the AQ into the West Region tournament, and they will find out the rest of the field and the seeding at the NCAA selection show on May 4. It is expected the field will include the final four teams from the PacWest tournament--the Vulcans, APU, Hawaii Pacific and Concordia. Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex, Surprise, Arizona

Singles competition
1. Martin Souka (UHH) def. Jakob Schnaitter (APU), 6-3, 6-3.
2. Alessio Demichelis (UHH) def. Sam Sippel (APU), 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
3. Ryan Nuno (APU) def. Chun En Wu (UHH), 6-2, 6-2.
4. Luca Checchia (UHH) def. Leyton Bohren (APU), 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 7-5.
5. Joshua Liu (UHH) def. Ian Lee (APU), 6-2, 6-3.
6. Cole Rassner (APU) def. Santiago Di Loreto (UHH), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Singles order of finish: 3-1-5-2-6-4

Doubles competition
1. Schnaitter/Bohren (APU) def. Soukal/Di Loreto (UHH), 6-2.
2. Nuno/Sippel (APU) def. Checchia/Liu (UHH), 6-3.
3. Dylan Parsley/Ethan Smith (APU) vs. En Wu/Demichelis (UHH), 5-4, UNF.
Doubles order of finish: 1-2

Records: #12 UHH 8-2, #7 APU 17-4