Junior Andreas Weber, who came from Germany three years ago to help lift Hawai'i's tennis fortunes, blitzed through his third set yesterday to clinch a historic first victory for the Rainbows in the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship.

The 'Bows upset 20th-ranked Oklahoma State, 4-3, in the first round at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Hawai'i (11-9), ranked a program-high 49th, plays in the second round today against seventh-ranked UCLA, a 15-time national champion.

The Bruins beat the 'Bows, 6-1, in Southern California two months ago. Hawai'i has won six of its last seven, including a second straight WAC championship where it upset 25th-ranked Boise State; BSU had beaten UH, 6-1, a week earlier.

"We just have to stay with our game, take the match to them (the Bruins)," UH coach John Nelson said. "We learned some of their patterns. A lot is just being here, playing in this facility. It's a gorgeous facility. We're comfortable now. We lost to Boise and Fresno before we beat them at WAC. That's history, we learned from it."

A year ago, in their first NCAA appearance after winning their inaugural WAC title, the Rainbows were shut out by Pepperdine in Malibu (Calif.). This year, on a neutral site and with the addition of freshman Leo Rosenberg, the Cowboys could not hold them off.

After Oklahoma State won the doubles point, Rosenberg, and seniors Jeff Fitch and Sascha Heinemann captured singles victories. It was Heinemann's 13th straight win.

UH sophomore Dennis Lajola, ranked 65th nationally, fell to second-ranked Oleksandr Nedovyesov on the No. 1 court and Philipp Eberhard lost at No. 6 to tie the match at 3-all.

Weber won his first set 7-5 and was up a service break at 4-3 in the second before Nathan Byrnes, Oklahoma State's only senior, rallied. Byrnes went ahead 5-4 and had three match points on Weber's serve. The German fought those off, but went down in a tiebreaker to send it to a decisive set.

After a 10-minute break, Weber won the first five games and finished it off, 6-1, to send the 'Bows to the second round.

"After the break I felt pretty confident because I thought I could win the match," Weber recalled. "I came out strong, with some big serves.

"We've played pretty decent the last couple matches and the more we win the more confident we are. We are all confident now."

Nelson had no doubts.

"I told Andy after the second set, 'You win, we win,'" the coach said. "And he said, 'I'll win.' "

The Cowboys were making their seventh straight NCAA appearance and had reached the Sweet 16 the past two years.

UCLA defeated Southern Illinois, 4-0, yesterday.

HAWAI'I 4, OKLAHOMA STATE 3

DOUBLES (OSU WINS 1 POINT)

1. No. 9 Oleksandr Nedovyesov/Nathan Byrnes (OSU) def. Jeff Fitch/Dennis Lajola (UH) 8-5

2. Andreas Weber/Leo Rosenberg (UH) leading Mikhail Trukshanin/Igor Sobolta 7-6 (unfinished)

3. Anton Bobytskyi/Aleksey Bessonov (OSU) def. Sascha Heinemann/Craig Faulk (UH) 8-5

SINGLES

1. No. 2 Nedovyesov (OSU) def. No. 65 Lajola 6-1, 7-6

2. Weber (UH) def. Byrnes 7-5, 6-7, 6-1

3. Rosenberg (UH) def. Bessonov 6-3, 6-4

4. Heinemann (UH) def. Trukshanin 6-2, 7-5

5. Fitch (UH) def. Bobytsky 6-2, 6-0

6. Sobolta (OSU) def. Philipp Eberhard 6-1, 6-2