UH-Hilo tennis teams primed for season

UH-Hilo’s men’s and women’s tennis teams announced their classes of new players last weekend, with the men’s team also received a No. 21 preseason ranking in NCAA Division II, as announced Monday.

Among the women’s team’s new transfers is Cami Oyama, a junior transfer who graduated from Hilo High in 2021 — playing two years of varsity tennis for coaches Wayne and Leanne Yamada. She spent her first two years of college playing for Utah Tech.

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RANKING: With a slew of solid transfers and a strong showing in the fall, the UH-Hilo Men’s Tennis team earned the No. 21 distinction in the first Intercollegiate Tennis Association Collegiate Team Rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point released last week.

Competing at the ITA Division II West Regional Championships last September, Vulcans newcomers Ryo Minakata and Cian McDonnell paired together to make a doubles run through the quarterfinals rounds with singles finishes in the semifinals and round of 16, respectively. Both were later ranked nationally in the top 50 for singles in the latest iteration of individual rankings.

UH-Hilo will get spring competition started Feb. 16-17 with two matches against No. 12 HPU on O’ahu.

Reigning Pacific West Conference champion Azusa Pacific landed at the No. 24 spot.

The next rankings will be released Feb. 14.

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MEN’S ADDITIONS: The UH-Hilo Men’s Tennis team will have six new faces for its upcoming quest for the 2024 Pacific West Conference Championship this spring.

All six newcomers are incoming transfers with a wealth of experience to replace five departures from a season ago — five to graduation/eligibility exhaustion.

Five newcomers arrived to the Big Island from across international borders, making all but one of the team’s 10 total players from outside the United States.

Boise State transfer Ryo Minakata and North Dakota transfer Cian McDonnell both landed in the first Intercollegiate Tennis Association Collegiate Rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point released last November, coming in at No. 37 and No. 50, respectively. Both were also ranked No. 4 and No. 9 in the West Regional Ranks. As a duo, they came in at No. 5 on the West Regional Doubles leader board.

The Vulcans return four from a season ago that saw UH-Hilo finish seventh at the PacWest Conference Championship.

UH-Hilo head coach Kallen Mizuguchi enters his sixth season in charge of both the men’s and women’s programs at his alma mater and will look to reclaim the conference title after last winning it all in 2021.

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WOMEN’S ADDITIONS: The UH-Hilo Women’s Tennis team has three new additions for the upcoming 2024 spring season with two Division-I transfers and one freshman.

UH-Hilo returns six players after two departures to graduation. The Vulcans are coming off their best finish through five seasons — No. 6 at last season’s PacWest Conference Championship — under head coach Kallen Mizuguchi, who took over the reigns at his alma mater starting in 2019.

Much like the men’s team, the Vulcans roster is now comprised of six internationals with four of them from Japan.