The University of Hawai'i men's tennis team beat Fresno State, 4-3, yesterday to capture its third consecutive Western Athletic Conference Tournament title at the Spalding G. Wathen Center in Fresno, Calif.

Jeremy Tweedt, a junior from Paris, clinched the match on the No. 4 court when he overcame a 4-1 deficit in the third set to beat Tejesvi Veerepalli, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

The 43rd-ranked Rainbow Warriors improved to 12-7 and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. The 29th-ranked Bulldogs fell to 18-9.

UH claimed the doubles point with wins by Dennis Lajola and Daniel Llarenas on the No. 2 court and Tweedt and Leo Rosenberg on No. 3.

Fresno State surged ahead 3-1 with singles victories at the Nos. 2, 5 and 6 courts.

The 'Bows tied it 3-3 when Lajola beat Mirko Zapletal, 6-4, 7-6 (3), on No. 1 and Rosenberg beat Remi Boutillier, 6-4, 6-3, on No. 3.

The focus then turned to the No. 4 court, where Tweedt, a transfer from Tennessee, and Veerepalli split the first two sets. Tweedt fell behind 4-1 in the third set before winning five games in a row to clinch the victory.

Lajola and Rosenberg were named to the all-tournament team in singles, while teammates Philipp Eberhard and Andreas Weber earned all-tournament honors in doubles.

WATER POLO

UH PLACES FIFTH

Carmen Eggens scored three goals and four-seeded Hawai'i turned back seventh-seeded San Di-ego State, 7-6, yesterday in the fifth-place game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament in Los Angeles.

Monika Eggens added two goals and Serena Bredin, who shut out the Aztecs in the second and third periods, finished with 10 saves for the Rainbow Wahine (18-8).

Melissa de Jonckheere scored two goals for San Diego State (21-15), which outscored UH 3-0 in the fourth period to make it close.

Host UCLA scored the first three goals then held off second-seeded USC, 8-7, to become the first team to win the MPSF Tournament as a fifth seed.

"The last time we played, USC exposed our weaknesses as a team," said UCLA head coach Brandon Brooks, a Punahou School alum. "After a team meeting, we came back refocused and had two weeks of practice and obviously made some improvements."

Stanford beat California, 10-3, in the third-place match and San Jose State beat Arizona State, 10-9, in the seventh-place match.

BASEBALL: Yesterday's Pacific West Conference doubleheader between Hawai'i Pacific and Academy of Art was canceled due to inclement weather. The games will not be rescheduled.