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Thursday, May 4, 2000

SMALL COLLEGE NOTEBOOK

Gaspar holds court
at BYUH

By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin

The world is a tennis court for Petra Gaspar.

The sport sent her on the WTA pro tour, where she played in all four Grand Slam Events, reaching a world-ranking of 165th.

But Gaspar decided to pursue an education while further honing her tennis skills at the collegiate level. The native of Budapest, Hungary, chose Brigham Young-Hawaii where she made an immediate impact.

As a freshman and the No. 1 singles player for the Seasiders, Gaspar's stellar play was vital to BYUH being crowned the 1999 NCAA Division II national champion, the first year the school moved up from the NAIA level.

Gaspar was undefeated as a freshman and was a finalist for the Honda Award, which recognizes the best Division II female athlete in the nation.

This year, has been more of the same for the sophomore. Back in early February, Gaspar reached the semifinals of the prestigious NCAA Division I Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.

Prior to this event, Gaspar won the Rolex ITA Small College Superbowl of Tennis, receiving the lone small college bid to the Rolex Indoor. Though she lost to eventual champion Laura Granville of Stanford, 6-4, 6-4, Gaspar's berth in the semifinals was the farthest any non-Division I competitor - male or female - had ever reached in the history of the tournament.

Assessing her play at the Rolex Indoor, Gaspar said that she really enjoyed the tournament and was happy with her performance overall, but she has room for improvement.

"My footwork and serve weren't that good; that was the difference (in the loss to Granville)," Gaspar said.

She hasn't faltered since. Gaspar is 14-0 for the top-ranked Seasiders (25-0), the top seed in this week's NCAA Division II West III Regional.

Hawaii-Hilo will play Grand Canyon University in tomorrow's 9 a.m. semifinal with the winner taking on the Seasiders on Saturday at 9 a.m. for the championship and a berth in next week's national tournament.

"I would like to defend our title, definitely,'' said Gaspar. "Our team is stronger (this year).

"I really would like to win Nationals again. It was a great feeling."

After her college career, Gaspar would like to resume her pro career. She has continued to play in several WTA events during her summer breaks in order to maintain a WTA ranking.

"As soon as I graduate, I would like to go back on the tour and try to reach my goal of being in the top 100 in the world," Gaspar said.

More tennis at BYUH

The BYUH courts will be busy this weekend, also hosting the West-I men's and women's regionals.

The Hawaii Pacific women's team is the top seed. The Sea Warriors will face Sonoma State Saturday for the championship at 11:30 a.m..

The men's side of the draw is made up entirely of local teams. The second-ranked HPU men's team, with a 20-3 record, is the top seed and has won 16 consecutive matches.

BYUH and UHH meet tomorrow in the 2 p.m. semifinal, with the winner playing HPU on Saturday at 2 p.m. for the championship.

The men's and women's champions at this weekend's regionals earn automatic berths into the 16-team national championship tournament held May 12-15 on the campus of the University of West Florida in Pensacola.

HPU hosts PacWest softball

HPU will host for the Pacific West Conference four-team postseason softball tournament tomorrow and Saturday at its Windward Campus field.

The Sea Warriors (34-12, 16-5) are the No. 24 ranked team in Division II and the No. 2 seed in the tournament. HPU opens play against Western Washington (31-11) at 9 a.m..

Tomorrow's second game pits top-seeded Humboldt State (50-7) against Western New Mexico (32-15) at 11:15 a.m. Double-elimination play continues through Saturday's championship game at 12:15 p.m. (2:30 p.m. if needed).

Bittersweet season for 'Swords

The Chaminade softball team did not make the tournament field, despite a remarkable turnaround season that saw the Silverswords in contention for the Pacific Division crown until the final week of the regular season. The Silverswords were swept in consecutive doubleheaders last weekend by eventual division winner HPU, and ended the season at 23-22 overall, 13-9 in the conference.

The Silverswords won just one conference game a year ago. This season, they had finished with their first winning season in the program's 13-year history.

Among the school marks set this year were most home runs in a season, most doubles and most triples. The team batting average jumped approximately one hundred points from last year's sub-.200 level.

Pitching sensation Melissa Marquez also set school marks for most games pitched in a season, most wins and most strikeouts.

"This season was definitely a success, despite the fact that we are all a little disappointed in the way it ended," coach Allison Nihei said. "I told my players that they have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about."

Nihei already has a very positive outlook for next season. She has her entire team returning, except for two players who were not regular starters.

"I think we impressed a lot of people, and even succeeded in giving HPU a little scare - which hasn't happened in a long time locally," Nihei said. "These girls all get along and they are all willing to work to get better. We just needed to build confidence-which comes from winning-and we did that."

Vulcan athletes of year

Softball player Melanie Hipwell and baseball player Thomas Ford have been named UHH's Athletes of the Year.

Hipwell, a senior catcher from California, led the Vulcans with a .386 batting average and .450 on-base percentage. Ford, a senior pitcher, leads the team with a .3.12 ERA and has a school-record 249 career strikeouts.

The Scholar-Athlete of the Year went to Erin Gavin (3.799 GPA) and Scott Prather (3.786 GPA.).

The Vulcans' all-sports banquet is tonight at 6 p.m. at the UHH campus center dining room.