It will be difficult to top what the 2018 University of Hawai`i Hilo men's tennis team accomplished last year, finishing 17-3 and winning a match at the national tournament.

Or will it?

The Vulcans return five of their top six singles players, and additionally have infused the roster with newcomers that will make their way into the starting line-up. On paper that makes the 2019 UH Hilo squad potentially better than last spring, and also tags them as a preseason Pacific West Conference favorite.

Although defending PacWest champion Azusa Pacific and always tough Hawai`i Pacific will have much to say about the latter, there is no questioning that the Vulcans, under interim first-year head coach Kallen Mizuguchi, will be good. Really good.

"We certainly have a lot of potential," said Mizuguchi, who played for the Vulcans from 2012-15. "We return a lot of good people, but we are also young with just two seniors. My hope is that we grow as the season goes on."

Ranked No. 10 nationally and No. 1 in the NCAA Division II West Region, Mizuguchi will get his first look at his team in matches this weekend. The Vulcans will host Holy Names (Sat., 9 a.m.), UC San Diego (Sun. 2:30 p.m.) and Hawai`i Pacific (Mon., 2 p.m.) at the Holua Tennis Center in Kailua-Kona. Those three opponents will also play each other, making for an entertaining weekend of tennis on the other side of the Big Island.

"We will get our feet wet this weekend," Mizuguchi added.

One pair that Mizuguchi will count on for wins and leadership is the No. 1 doubles duo of Vaclav Slezak and Alessandro Giuliato. That tandem went 17-3 last season and comes into 2019 ranked No. 2 in the west region and 12^th nationally in the ITA rankings.  

Individually, Slezak will play on court one again, where he was 14-5 a year ago. He is ranked fourth in the west region this spring and 28^th nationally. Giuliato is again on court two, where he went a sparkling 18-2 last year. He is listed as sixth in the west region and 28^th nationally.

Both Slezak and Giuliato were First-Team All-PacWest singles and doubles selections last year. Slezak also won the championship of the fall UTR tournament in Honolulu, defeating Hawai`i's (Division I) Lucas Labrunie in straight sets in the title match.

Giuliato was the PacWest Freshman of the Year and the ITA West Region Rookie of the Year in 2018.

"That is a really good one-two punch," Mizuguchi said. "They also now have a year of playing together under their belts." Slezak is right-handed and Giuliato is a lefty, adding another natural advantage to their pairing.

Chun En Wu, who last year as a freshman played at No. 3 singles, returns as well and is ranked No. 10 in the west region. Wu was 11-5 in singles last year and went 15-5 in doubles. Wu could play at No. 3 or 4 this year, with newcomer Martin Soukal (freshman, Czech Republic) is the mix. Despite playing in only one tournament as a Vulcan (last fall at the Honolulu UTR), Soukal earned a No. 19 singles ranking in the November ITA listing.

Newcomers and returnees will vie for the rest of the spots in the line-up. Arturo Dell`Eva is back, compiling a 10-5 singles record last year on court five. Gregory Zukeran, who played No. 6 last year, will have a limited schedule this year because of his lab commitments in the UH Hilo nursing program.

That opens the door for freshmen Luca Checchia (Valencia, Spain) and Alan Cincunegui (Mexico City) on the singles ladder. Both were impressive in the fall and won matches at the UTR in Honolulu.

Others vying for playing time are sophomore Pancho Shelton (Konawaena HS) and freshmen Zen Yoshida (Ichinomiya, Japan) and Maxwell Geiger (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

The doubles pairings will sort themselves out as the young season progresses, but one fact that is for sure is that the NCAA Division II doubles rules have changed. Each match is now played to six games (it was eight), and the three doubles matches now count for just one team point (used to be three).

Another certainty is that the Vulcan schedule is tough. After the Holua matches, the Vulcans will begin preparation for a tournament in San Antonio, Tex. (March 11-15) that features No. 2 ranked Barry, St. Mary's (Tex.), No. 12 Southwest Baptist (Tex.) and Auburn-Montgomery (Ala.). Following that is a trip to southern California to take on Biola, Concordia, No. 14 ranked and defending PacWest champ Azusa Pacific and UC San Diego.

The Pacific West Conference Championships will again be in Surprise, Arizona (April 17-20).

"We will just take it one match at a time," Mizuguchi said. "Every team that we play is good. And they are hungry to beat us this year. We definitely have a target on our backs."