It’ll be worth the wait for the UH-Hilo men’s tennis team, which debuts it new courts against No. 4 Hawaii Pacific on Saturday.
The No. 49 Vulcans (3-8) host the Sharks (10-0) at 1 p.m. while the UHH women (2-8) play No. 3 HPU (10-1) at noon on Sunday.
“The new court is good. We’re lucky to play on it,” coach Kallen Mizuguchi said. “It’ll be open to the public pretty soon. There are no cracks. The Hilo community deserved a new court, the players, too.”
It’s a chance for the local players — sophomores Luke Hamano (2020 Hilo graduate), Casydee De Mattos (2020 Hilo), and Chloe Teramoto (2020 Waiakea) — to have their families watch them play without driving two hours to West Hawaii.
“It’s huge for the local kids to compete on, but it’s not easy competition,” Mizuguchi said. “It’s good for them to play in front of a home crowd. The community has been watching them throughout their lives. It’s a big deal for the players and the community as well.”
The last time the Vulcans played at their campus courts was in 2019 when the women played Linfield.
The UHH men have played a tough schedule, losing to seven ranked teams. The women have lost to five ranked teams.
“The men and women are stronger than last year,” Mizuguchi said. “We’re just short on the high competition level. They’ll get better.”
Last season, the UHH men produced the best year in school history. The Vulcans (11-3) won the PacWest championship, beat rival HPU for the West Regional, and lost to No. 1 Columbus State in the NCAA championship semifinals and placed third for the second consecutive year.
“We made history last year. We won the PacWest and Regional for the first time in history,” Mizuguchi said. “A lot of talent came off that team. But we’ve gotten a lot better. On the court, we’ve had some injuries, but we’re hoping to finish strong. The conference tourney is coming up in late April.”
Hamano is 0-2 at No. 6 singles, but he’s got a bunch of upperclassmen ahead of him. Martin Soukal is a junior and ranked third. He’s 11-2 at No. 1 singles. Sophomore Alessio Demichelis is 7-6 at No. Freshman Agustin Gentile is 0-7 at No. 3 and . Junior Luca Checchia is 3-7 at No. 3 and 4. Senior Joshua Liu is 7-7 at No. 5 and 6. Junior Ryosuke Sowa is 2-1 at No. 6.
“Luke is good. He’ growing and developing his game,” Mizuguchi said. “As he gets older, he’s going to respond to those players who bring different things.
“Martin is No. 3 in the country. He’s a good player and person. He graduates this year. It’s sad for me because he’s been a powerhouse. No one has reached that high at UHH. He’s the one who’s been pulling us through for the last four years.”
The men’s roster is filled with players from all over the world, including Hawaii, Japan, Canada, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, California, Malaysia, Buenos Aires, Spain, and Italy.
De Mattos is 1-3 in singles and 2-0 in doubles.
The women have a diverse group with players from Hawaii, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Romania, California, and the Netherlands.
“The team is very competitive this year, and we have many players from all over the world,” De Mattos said. “Despite our different backgrounds, we are very close and get along well. We have had close matches with some high-ranked schools, and I look forward to seeing how we do in the last stretch of the season.”
De Mattos noticed one big difference between play in the BIIF and college.
“In college, every match is competitive, and I can never step on the court expecting to win easily,” she said. “The college atmosphere is also very different because all the teams cheer really loud, and it’s super fun trying to match their energy.”
De Mattos will have to play the role of cheerleader for a day because the men debut the court on Saturday, and the women follow the next day.
“I am very grateful that the UH-Hilo courts were finished with their renovation in time for our season,” she said. “It helps the college student-athlete experience feel much more real, and we are so lucky to have brand new courts.”
Best of all for De Mattos is that she’s also hitting the books. The communications major is juggling a lot of duties, but has maintained good grades.
“I have been able to travel with the tennis team and play singles and doubles matches. Thanks to my coaches, teammates, and new experiences, I feel that I have reached a higher level of tennis than ever,” she said. “It gets difficult to balance school and tennis, but UH-Hilo does a great job of encouraging both academic and athletic success. This has helped me maintain Dean’s List for (3.5 GPA or higher) the last few semesters.”
