UHH sports: Mizuguchi resigns after successful run with Vulcans tennis, PacWest adds three new schools
HILO – Vulcans Tennis head coach Kallen Mizuguchi has recently resigned after six successful seasons in charge of both the Hawaii Hilo Men’s and Women’s Tennis programs.
Following a four-year playing career with the Vulcans, the hometown native and UH Hilo alum was named interim head coach for both of the Hawaii Hilo Men’s and Women’s Tennis programs in Feb. 2019, guiding the men’s team to a Pacific West Conference Championship runner-up finish followed by the first of two NCAA Championship Semifinalist placements. Mizuguchi was given the permanent role in June and later followed up in 2021 by claiming the PacWest Conference title.
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“It was an honor to represent my alma mater and the community I grew up in,” Mizuguchi wrote in a public social media post earlier this month. “I’ve been blessed with some of the most amazing student-athletes from all over the world. Of all the places, they’ve chosen Hilo to play college tennis and create lifelong friendships and memories. I’m grateful for the opportunities that were created working at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Thank you to all of my student-athletes for allowing me to be your coach, mentor, friend, and even emergency contact.”
On the women’s side, the Vulcans made steady improvement over the last six seasons, going from a five-win first-year campaign to an 11-9 record this past spring.
Mizuguchi’s tennis squads have have been comprised of more than 60 percent international student-athletes.
His teams have also exhibited excellence in the classroom, thrice claiming the Ramon Goya Academic Team of the Year for highest combined grade point average among all Vulcans teams during the school year. Student-athletes from the Men’s Tennis team have also earned the Joe and Harriet Estrella Male Scholar-Athlete award four times for achieving the highest male individual GPA.
A 2010 graduate of Waiakea High School, Mizuguchi was a four-year member of the Hawaii Hilo Men’s Tennis team from 2011-2015 on the way to earning a bachelor’s of business administration.
Three new schools join PacWest
July 1 is a day that the Pacific West Conference has had circled on the calendar for a long time.
It’s now official, three schools officially joined the conference Monday, boosting the membership total from 11 to 14. Jessup University, Menlo College and Vanguard University will all play a PacWest schedule in 2024-25 in their second year of NCAA provisional membership. Additionally, Westmont begins year number three in the NCAA process.
All four schools are eligible to compete for regular-season PacWest championships in 2024-25 but cannot compete in NCAA postseason play until completing the provisional period.
All four schools are former members of the Golden State Athletic Conference (NAIA), as are five current members of the PacWest.
“We are thrilled to add Jessup, Menlo and Vanguard into the Pacific West Conference,” commissioner Jessica Harbison Weaver said. “Additionally, we salute Westmont for successfully moving into year three of the NCAA membership process. These schools are a great fit for our conference with a shared commitment to community, academics and athletics excellence.”
The addition of the three schools gives the PacWest campuses in three more California locations — Atherton (Menlo), Rocklin (Jessup) and Costa Mesa (Vanguard). Menlo and Jessup join the northern California pod with Academy of Art (San Francisco) and Dominican (San Rafael), while Westmont (Santa Barbara) and Fresno Pacific (Fresno) represent the central valley and central coast. Vanguard will have a chance to renew its rivalry with neighbor Concordia (Irvine) in Orange County, along with other former GSAC schools in southern California: Biola (La Mirada), Azusa Pacific (Azusa) and Point Loma (San Diego).
Three schools from Hawaii give the PacWest 14 total members and add to the stature of being the most scenic conference in the country. HPU and Chaminade (Honolulu), along with Hawaii Hilo (Big Island) give the PacWest a unique geographical stamp. Additionally, the PacWest has affiliate members for tennis in Colorado (MSU Denver and Colorado Mesa).
The PacWest sponsors championships in 15 sports, including men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field, softball and baseball. The Pacific West Conference enters its 32nd season in 2024-25, born in 1992 as a merger between the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the Continental Divide Conference. Over the years, its membership has included universities from Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Utah, California, Arizona, Alaska and New Mexico.
Four Vulcans earn Academic All-District honors
Hawaii Hilo golfers Nicholas Gomez, Kailey Oki, Elle Otani and Isabella Ranches earned Academic All-District At-Large Team honors as selected and announced earlier this week by the College Sports Communicators.
The CSC Academic All-America/District program recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom, requiring a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher (sophomore standing and above). Sports eligible for the At-Large Team are beach volleyball, bowling, crew/rowing, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, men’s volleyball, water polo and wrestling. For golf, participation in at least 70 percent of team-scoring events competed in during the season is required.
New nomination criteria for the 2023-24 school year allows transfer student-athletes to be eligible by combining GPA attained at previous institutions.
