TEMPE, Ariz.--The Intercollegiate Tennis Association has release a short-season final tennis ranking for 2019-20. 

For the Hawai`i Hilo men's tennis team, they made a couple of lists, but didn't have the sample size that they hoped to climb further up the ladders.

Martin Soukal, 6-foot-5 Vulcan sophomore, is ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II West Region rankings in singles. The Czech Republic native was 4-1 when the season ground to a halt, having beaten two players that were ranked in the ITA Fall national rankings--No. 4 Anish Sriniketh of St. Edwards (TX) and No. 9 Manuel Pilotto of Southeast Oklahoma State. He didn't get the opportunity to play the three players ranked ahead of him in the regional rankings from Azusa Pacific, Samuel Sippel (also #3 nationally), Jakob Schnaitter and Ryan Nuno. Vulcan junior Chun En Wu is ranked No. 15 in the region.

The Vulcans finished ranked No. 19 in the ITA/Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings, despite a 1-3 record. "That's probably about what we deserved, considering our slow start," said Vulcan head coach Kallen Mizuguchi. "Our best tennis was ahead of us, so we are all disappointed that we didn't have the chance to see our season through. We didn't have the opportunity to play matches in the Fall, which is were all the nationally ranked teams were able to make some traction early. This will hopefully motivate our guys for next season."

Columbus State (9-0) is No. 1, defending champion Barry (6-1), who defeated the Vulcans in the 2019 NCAA semifinals, was No. 2, followed by West Florida (9-4), Saint Leo (9-2) and Hawaii Pacific at No. 5 (9-6). St. Edward's was sixth. The Vulcans lost to HPU in February, but had a rematch scheduled for March 12. The Vulcans were ahead of St Edward's 3-2 before rain canceled their match in Texas. 

Other west teams in the national rankings included Azusa Pacific (6-4) at No. 11, and Concordia CA (10-2) and UC San Diego (9-7), tied for 12th. The Vulcans had matches scheduled in March against all three of those squads.

"Our guys already can't wait for next season," Mizuguchi added. "We have the nucleus of our team returning and will add some solid recruits. We look forward to getting back on the courts and getting ready."