With a belief more powerful than its record or ranking, Hawai'i roared to its second straight Western Athletic Conference men's tennis championship yesterday with an upset of 20th-ranked Boise State.

The third-seeded Rainbows (10-9), ranked 68th nationally, beat the top-seeded Broncos, 4-2. It was a reversal of BSU's 6-1 victory in Idaho nine days ago, but no one around the UH Tennis Complex was calling it stunning. The 'Bows upset BSU and Fresno State last year on the way to their first WAC Championship in Las Cruces, N.M.. Yesterday, before a few hundred increasingly rabid fans, Hawai'i proved it was no fluke.

It started by winning a rare doubles point — its first in six matches — and took that momentum to the top. The Broncos won the doubles point in every victory this season.

"The doubles point is everything, our whole season is based on the doubles point and I had some guys who were really tight," said BSU coach Greg Patton, whose team has four seniors, and won four consecutive WAC titles before last year. "I take responsibility for it. I should have been more animated with the guys and we should have gone after it, but we got afraid. Hawai'i played fearlessly and we played hesitantly."

There was no time to hesitate the past two days. The WAC Tournament's final two matches were excruciatingly close, with almost every match depending on a game and sometimes just a point. The Rainbows won both.

They captured a gut-wrenching 4-hour-plus semifinal over No. 41 Fresno State Saturday, despite senior Sascha Heinemann and sophomore Craig Faulk falling in an agonizing final doubles match. Heinemann rebounded to clinch the win in the final singles match, too stubborn and talented to let his college career end.

Yesterday, those two clinched the doubles point by winning six straight games while the fans — torn between watching up to six courts other times during the match — screamed all around them. The Rainbows roared into singles, winning the opening set on all but the No. 6 court.

"The key was winning the doubles point," said sophomore Dennis Lajola, the 'Aiea boy who traveled the tennis world in high school before coming home to play No. 1 for UH. "We definitely had the momentum right away.

"In conference, so much is on the line and our boys on this team love that pressure. We get so motivated and want to win so bad. When it comes to big matches, we thrive on that. We're going for it, we have nothing to lose."

Particularly in front of fans constantly screaming "Whose house is it?"

"We were excited to be home for the conference," Lajola said. "We expected a lot of people to come watch and they did. They really supported Hawai'i tennis. We loved it. We really soaked everything up."

After UH grabbed the edge in doubles — it won just five games in three doubles matches at Boise — Boise State tied it by winning at No. 6 in straight sets. Senior Jeff Fitch put UH back ahead with a straight-set win at No. 5. Heinemann, UH's first four-time all-conference selection, then captured his 12th straight win at No. 4.

While Lajola and Andreas Weber were hanging tough at Nos. 1 and 2, freshman Leo Rosenberg was turning on the afterburners at No. 3. He won the first set in a tiebreaker, fell behind 3-5 in the second, then blew through the final four games to give Hawai'i its fourth point, and set off a title defense party in Manoa.

"You try and peak at the right time," UH coach John Nelson said. "I told the guys from Day 1 we were not defending. I don't believe in defending. I play as tough a schedule as I can get and never worry about win-loss record. I want them to work and want them to learn.

"The guys trained their minds. I told them they are the most disciplined team in the WAC. I didn't lie to them. They are not the most disciplined team in the country right now, but under pressure they tend to tune in and shut everything else out."

NOTES

The NCAA Tournament selection announcement is tomorrow, at approximately 11:20 a.m. Hawai'i Time on ESPNews. UH lost at 13th-ranked Pepperdine in a first-round match last year in its first appearance. Boise State expects to get an at-large bid for the second straight year.

Billie Jean King watched some of Saturday's women's final, which Fresno State won after holding off three match points against Boise State. Rose (Thomas) Jones, who formed the best women's doubles team in Hawai'i history with Rosie (Vera Cruz) Bareis in the 1980s, was at yesterday's final. She now lives in Spokane, Wash.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.

WAC MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

Yesterday's Final

(3) HAWAI'I 4, (1) BOISE STATE 2

Doubles: 1—No. 39 Kean Feeder/James Meredith (BSU) def. Dennis Lajola/Jeff Fitch (UH) 8-3; 2—Andreas Weber/Leo Rosenberg (UH) def. Stanley Sarapanich/Clancy Shields (BSU) 8-4; 3—Sascha Heinemann/Craig Faulk (UH) def. Blane Shields/Matt Solomon (BSU) 8-6. Hawai'i wins doubles point.

Singles: 1—No. 74 Feeder (BSU) def. No. 60 Lajola (UH) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; 2—Weber (UH) vs. No. 26 C.Shields (BSU) 6-4, 3-4 (unfinished); 3—Rosenberg (UH) def. No. 85 Meredith (BSU) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5; 4—Heinemann (UH) def. Cristian Hodel (BSU) 6-2, 6-4; 5—Fitch (UH) de. Sarapanich (BSU) 6-4, 7-5; 6—B. Shields (BSU) def. Philipp Eberhard (UH) 6-2, 6-0.

WAC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Singles: Rudy Siwi (FSU), Kean Feeder (BSU), Clancy Shields (BSU), Jeff Fitch (UH), Sascha Heinemann (UH), Dennis Lajola (UH).

Doubles: Leo Rosenberg/Andreas Weber (UH), Kean Feeder/James Meredith (BSU), Dennis Lajola/Jeff Fitch (UH).