SAN DIEGO--Pacific West Conference champion and #2 seed Point Loma was just two games away from watching their first-ever NCAA West Region win evaporate, and along with that their inaugral trip to the Sweet 16 site in Florida.

But senior Arianna Audelo battled out of a 4-4 third-set tie for a 6-4 win with all her teammates and fans cheering her on to secure a 4-3 tightly contested team victory over #3 seed Hawaii Pacific on Monday afternoon at the PLNU Tennis Courts. 

That sends the Sea Lions to Alamonte Springs, Florida for their first trip to nationals. It was also PLNU's first-ever west regional win. They had lost to the Sharks in 2022 and 2023 in Honolulu, and last year fell to Azusa Pacific in the west regional.

Today, it looked like Hawaii Pacific was going to get the best of Point Loma again. 

The Sharks won the doubles point, taking court one behind Annika Harkovirta and Sayda Hernandez, 6-3 and on court two with Emily Castillo and Evi Roobol. That court two match clinced the doubles point, after the Sea Lions had won on court three with Anna Pallencaoe and Emely Valencia, 6-3.

That gave HPU a 1-0 and they quickly made it 2-0 with a singles win on court five via Jayanne Palma winning 6-1, 6-1. Point Loma got a point back at No. 6 with Pallencaoe's 6-4, 6-1 victory, but the Sharks moved to within one win of taking the match when Castillo won on court three, 6-3, 6-2. 

Hawaii Pacific had that 3-1 lead for a long time, because the remaining matches went three sets or into a second set tiebreaker. The Sea Lions stayed alive via court four with Quin Brady's 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Rosa Viller Moller to make it 3-2. Fifteen minutes later on court one, Alina Kupfer went two hours before edging Roobol, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).

That left Audelo and HPU's Hernandez, in a match that would take another 25 minutes to complete. Fernandez won the first set 6-4, Audello captured the second set 6-3, leaving the marathon third set to be played out. Long rallies typified the games, which Audelo eventually won at 6-4, sending her teammates sprinting towards her in celebration. 

Hawaii Pacific's outstanding season under first-year head coach Daniel Pollock ends at 11-6, while head coach Curt Wheeler and Point Loma will take a 19-4 record to Florida. 

The NCAA National Championships are May 20-24 in Alamonte Springs. Times and opponents will be announced soon. Azusa Pacific and Biola will play on Tuesday (2:30) to determine the other west region team that will qualify to go to Florida.