2016-17 Hawai`i Hilo Men's Tennis Season in Review

More Than Twice the Fun: The 2017 UH Hilo men's tennis team finished 13-11, more than doubling their win total from 2016 (6-11). The Vulcans finished in third place at the Pacific West Conference tournament, were ranked fifth in the final ITA West Region listings and 34th nationally.

See Ya Again Next Year: The Vulcan roster featured five newcomers and four returnees. Three of those newbies had the top three singles records on the team (more on that in a moment). In fact, there was only one senior on the roster, four-year veteran Daniel Tada. The rest of the squad will return intact for 2018.

The Newcomers: The revival of the squad come in large part because of a trio of transfers. Sophomore Vaclav Slezak manned the No. 1 singles spot and had one of the best seasons in school history, finishing 19-4. The Troy University transfer and Czech Republic native was also 15-10 at No. 1 doubles. Fellow transfer Alex Fillat Perez, a junior from Spain and East Central University (Okla.) was 14-8 at mostly No. 2 singles and 18-5 overall in doubles. The third member of the circle is Bruno Figlia, a 6-5 Brazilian and Irvine Valley College transfer, who was 20-5 in doubles (playing mostly with Fillat Perez) and was 16-6 in singles playing on courts No. 4 and 5. Freshman Dillon Lam went 5-6 in his first collegiate season in singles and was 3-1 in doubles.

Familar Faces: Sophomore Gregory Zukeran went 8-12, playing at mostly No. 3 singles and he was 11-13 in doubles. Three-year veteran Stefan Coney found his niche playing with Slezak in doubles, going 10-5 on court No. 1 and finishing 13-8 overall in doubles. He was 9-14 in singles. Ryuta Ogawa, a sophomore, went 9-10 in singles, while UHH's lone senior Daniel Tada went 11-14 in doubles play.

Awards Galore: The Vulcans brought home a bushel full of awards this year, perhaps highlighted by second-year head coach Tina McDermott's ITA West Region Coach of the Year honor. Vaclav Slezak brought home trophies for PacWest Newcomer of the Year, ITA West Region Player to Watch and First Team All-PacWest honors. The Vulcan men's tennis team was also named the UH Hilo Team of the Year.
Men's Tennis (13-11)
PacWest Tournament: Third Place (W Concordia, L Hawai`i Pacific, W BYU-Hawaii)
Home: 2-0  Road: 4-4  Neutral: 7-7
Wilson/ITA West Region Coach of the Year: Tina McDermott
Highest ITA National Ranking: 34th (April 26)
Highest ITA Regional Ranking: 5th (April 26)
Highest ITA National Player Ranking: Vaclav Slezak, 25^th (April 26)
Highest ITA Regional Player Ranking: Vaclav Slezak, 5^th (March 22, April 26), Alex Fillat Perez, 15^th (April 26), Alex Fillat Perez/Bruno Figlia, 7^th doubles (April 26).
ITA Player to Watch: Vaclav Slezak
ITA/Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award: Daniel Tada
PacWest Newcomer of the Year: Vaclav Slezak
PacWest All-Conference team: Vaclav Slezak (first team-singles), Alex Fillat Perez (second team-singles), Alex Fillat Perez (second team-doubles), Bruno Figlia (second team-doubles).
PacWest Player of the Week: Vaclav Slezak (Mar. 14)
PacWest All-Academic Team: Announced in June
Team MVP: Vaclav Slezak
Pono Vulcan: Daniel Tada
Tina McDermott's Career Coaching Record: 19-22 (second season at UHH; third season overall)

Battle Tested: The Vulcans winning record was nothing to sneeze at, in part because of the caliber of opponents on their schedule. The NCAA Division II west region was loaded again, led by 2016 national champion Hawai`i Pacific. This year the Sharks were ranked No. 6 and reached the national quarterfinals, as did No. 11 nationally ranked Azusa Pacific. In addition to playing the Sharks and Cougars, the Vulcans had five matches against perennial power BYU-Hawaii, played No. 12 UC San Diego twice and No. 7 (NAIA) Arizona Christian. 

Have Bag Will Travel: UH Hilo opened the year with five matches in six days in Kona, technically home matches for the Vulcans. Later, they played eight matches in 11 days from northern to southern California. They played just two matches on their own campus courts, defeating California Lutheran (7-2) and Carleton MN (9-0).

The Highs and Lows: The Vulcans lost three matches by a scant 5-4 count, two of those to BYU-Hawaii and one to Division I Colgate. But they won nine of their final 12 matches, including a 5-3 revenge victory in their final match ever versus the Seasiders. 

PacWest Power: The victory for third place was especially sweet for the Vulcans, who had fallen in their four previous matches against the Seasiders this year. After defeating Concordia in the opening round (5-2) and then falling to Hawai`i Pacific in the semi's (5-0), the Vulcans came up against their nemesis, playing for the final time with BYUH dropping athletics at the conclusion of this year. UHH won two of the three doubles matches to put the pressure on the Seasiders. They split four of the singles matches before Alex Fillat Perez clinched the match at No. 2 singles with a pair of set tie-breaker wins to send his teammates to celebration. It was UHH's first win over the Seasiders in a number of years, and now, obviously their last.

Coaches Corner: "I am extremely proud of the men's achievements this season," said head coach Tina McDermott. "They worked hard and continued to improve throughout the year.  The highlight was our win over BYUH in the PacWest Championships for third place.  It was a fun tournament and an experience none of us will ever forget.  We will build on that success and look forward to a great 2017-18."

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