Most people think of vacations and white sandy beaches when they visit Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

For the Hawaii Hilo women's tennis team, Kona is where the opening of the 2017 season will take place, with five matches in six days.

Hardly a vacation.

The Vulcans will hit first serve on Wedneday, February 15 when they host BYU-Hawaii at 10 a.m. Matches follow with Sonoma State on Friday, BYU-H again on Saturday, Chaminade on Sunday and Hawaii Pacific on Monday

The Seasiders are ranked No. 2 in the country and Hawaii Pacific is No. 5.

But McDermott thinks her team is up for the challenge. "We will compete, that's for sure," she predicted. "We are definitely better than a year ago. This group is working really hard and training hard. It is a great group of women."


The 2016 team, under first-year coach McDermott, finished 6-10 on the season. Three players from that team return, along with five newcomers.


The returnees include captain and senior Kinsey Volkart, who played mostly at No. 3 singles last year and on court two in doubles. She was 6-9 in singles action. Fellow senior Shanise Kaaikala went 7-6 on courts five and six in singles and teamed with Volkart mostly at No. 2 doubles. Anne Carsey, a freshman last year, played at No. 5-6 singles and No. 3 doubles.


Two transfers will make an immediate impact. Junior Daniela Sanz Caseli, a native of Brazil, played the past two seasons at Barton Community College (Kansas). She played No. 1 singles and doubles there, and was ranked No. 1 in her region and fifth nationally at the junior college level. 


Junior Sara Valero comes to UH Hilo from William Carey, an NAIA school in Mississippi. The Spaniard went 13-6 last year in singles and 13-8 in doubles. The newcomers are Cheyenne Schula who is a two-time Northern Nevada Regional doubles champ in high school. Freshmen Caralyn Fitzpatrick and Napapon Vorasane round out the squad and are working hard to prepare for the season.


"My expectations are that we will give 100 percent in every match and compete to the best of our ability," McDermott said. "We will get better and better as we do that."