The 2019 UH Hilo tennis team put together the best season in school history, winning its way to the NCAA Final Four and coming home with a third place trophy.

The 2020 version of the Vulcans has the majority of that team returning, and like last year, they are ranked No. 10 in the national preseason poll.

Despite all the hype and expectation, second-year head coach Kallen Mizuguchi would like to proceed with caution.

"We return a lot of really good players, no doubt about it," the former Vulcan player confirmed. "Those players that are coming back are stronger, smarter and overall better than they were a year ago."

So why not throw all caution to the tennis winds? Well, there is this.

The Vulcans lost their top two players off that 2019 record setting team—two players that were among the top ten players in all of NCAA Division II.

Vaclav Slezak and Alessandro Guiliato played positions one and two on the singles courts and played together for part of the season at No. 1 doubles. Slezak, who graduated and is now Mizuguchi's assistant coach, was 13-6 in singles while playing some of the top players in the country. He was 15-4 in doubles. Giuliato was a perfect 14-0 in singles and finished 11-5 in doubles. He transferred to national champion Barry (Fla)., who ironically was the team that beat the Vulcans in the NCAA semifinals.

"That's why," Mizuguchi said, referring to the act of caution. "I feel like those two guys were two of the best players in the country. You don't just replace that overnight."

Instead, he will rebuild with parts made stronger by a conditioning-laden offseason, something he didn't have the pleasure of when hired in January of 2019.

"We worked really, really hard," Mizuguchi confirmed. "I said this about our women's team as well, but when you jump right into the season like I did last year you can only focus on what you already have, your strengths. In the off-season, you can break down your weaknesses, build those up and add to your confidence. I feel like that is what we did."

He and Vulcan fans will get an immediate look at the new product this weekend when the Vulcans open the 2020 season on the west side of the Big Island at the Fairmont Orchid. UHH will open on Friday (Feb. 14) against UC San Diego at 9 a.m., and will play No. 9 nationally ranked Hawai`i Pacific on Sunday at 8 a.m.

The following week, they will journey to Waco, Texas to take on three of the strongest teams from the southwest—SE Oklahoma State, St. Mary's TX and St. Edwards TX.

"We have set the bar pretty high with our schedule," the coach said. "But we have learned that we have to play teams of the highest caliber to get better ourselves."

Last year, there was no question who would play on the top two singles courts for the Vulcans. Martin Soukal, who was the Pacific West Conference Freshman of the Year last spring, is likely on court one this year, but after that the competition is tight for the next spots.

Soukal was an astounding 14-2 in singles on court three and finished 17-3 in doubles. The 6-foot-5 Czech Republic native had the best doubles record in the conference, and teamed to with Slezak to win a semifinal match against Barry's No. 6 nationally ranked doubles tandem.

Junior Chun En Wu was 8-4 in singles last season at No. 4 and had a sizzling 13-4 record in doubles at No. 2. Sophomore Luca Checchia was 5-4 on court five, although many of his matches never finished because Slezak, Guiliato and Soukal ended their matches early, clinching the team win and ending the other matches. Ditto for Arturo Dell'Eva, who by nature played long matches. He was 4-5 on court six.

Alan Cincunegui also returns (8-9 in doubles) as does Maxwell Geiger, who Mizuguchi says is challenging for playing time. Zen Yoshida is another returnee, who like Geiger watched and practiced last year but could work their way into court time this year.

The new piece on the Vulcans roster is Division I transfer Santiago Di Loreto, who played at South Alabama for two seasons. The Argentina native played on a Jaguars team that won the Sun Belt Conference tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA's. He had an 8-2 record on court six in singles last year.

While duplicating the success of last year is questionable, most can confirm that the Vulcans will certainly be in the PacWest and postseason mix. Conference coaches selected the Vulcans third in the preseason poll behind No. 8 ranked Azusa Pacific and No. 9 Hawai`i Pacific. This year's PacWest Tournament will again be contested in Surprise, Arizona, April 22-25.  

"We have really good people, on and off the court," Mizuguchi said. "We have great chemistry and are in good shape physically. It's a long season and a lot can happen, but we are all really excited to see where all of this takes us."