In 2019, the UH Hilo men's tennis team went 15-5 on the season, won three NCAA tournament matches and reached the national semifinals.

The Vulcans had the challenge of trying to get past eventual national champion Barry, which they did not. That of course is the ultimate NCAA Division II challenge, trying to beat a perennial national champion. But the following spring, for the 2020 Vulcan squad and every other team in the country, a bigger challenge presented itself--the pandemic. For all teams, the season ground to a halt on March 12.

UH Hilo was in Honolulu, set to take on three top squads when they were summoned home. They were a team that had lost its top two players from that national third-place team, but still had every potential to at least reach the national tournament again.

Fast forward 11 months later, and the Vulcans will finally take to the courts this coming weekend. The 2021 team returns four of its top five players from a year ago, and has a talented recruiting class on top of that. Still, there are questions aplenty after having not played for so long and having an even mix of returnees (five) and newcomers (five).

"With many returners along with new recruits, I feel we have a lot to prove this season," said head coach Kallen Mizuguchi. "With the 2020 session being cut short and training through the fall semester with only three players at practice, we will see how we perform in the early parts of this season."

He will get a pretty good idea of what he has in a hurry this coming Sunday. The Vulcans will get two matches against No. 5 nationally ranked Hawai`i Pacific, one at 10 am and the other at 2 pm. Both matches will be played at the Fairmont Orchid Resort, on the Kona side of the Big Island (matches are closed to the public).

"Opening the season off with Hawaii Pacific University will be a big test to see how we match up in the country," he said. "We are fortunate to have such a strong team to match up against in Hawaii. I'm excited to see how things play out." 

One certainty for Mizuguchi is the confidence that he can have in running out 6-foot-5 Martin Soukal to the court. The Czech native had two wins in the short 2020 season over top ten players, beating No. 4 Anish Sriniketh of St. Edwards TX and No. 9 Manual Pilotto of Southeastern Oklahoma State. As a freshman in 2019, he was 17-3 in singles and was named the PacWest Freshman of the Year. He is now 21-4 in his UHH career in singles, and was ranked No. 4 in the west region last season.

Chun En Wu is back for his fourth season, He was playing No. 2 singles last year when the season ended, and has a 20-13 career mark in singles and 30-11 in doubles. Luca Checchia has been in the starting ladder for two seasons, playing in singles spot 4-6. Left-hander Santiago Di Loreto played a short season last year after transferring from Division I South Alabama, and had a 3-1 singles mark on court five. Zen Yoshida is the fifth returnee, having red-shirted in 2019 and playing one match last spring.

That's a solid group to build on, but the wild card (and unknown) lies with the five newcomers. Two of those new to the Vulcans are transfers. Joshua Liu comes to UHH from Sonoma State after the Seawolves dropped their program last summer. Liu didn't play last year, but was 9-4 in singles in 2019. Ryosuke Sowa played a short season in 2020 and was a redshirt the year prior, both at Division I Jacksonville State. 

One of the three freshmen is very local. Luke Hamano comes across town from Hilo High School, having lost his senior prep season to COVID. As a junior he reached the quarterfinals of the Hawaii state tournament. Alessio Demichelis come to UH Hilo from Italy, bringing an 11 UTR rating with him. Fellow freshman Luca Matheiowetz hails from Germany, and has an impressive UTR of 12. 

While the roster is still an unknown, equally up in the air is UHH's schedule. After the matches on Sunday with HPU, the Vulcans have a trip to Southern California scheduled in March, COVID permitting. They are also scheduled to go to Oahu for a rematch with the Sharks in April, and if all goes well every conference team will be at the Pacific West Conference Championships in late April in Surprise, Arizona.

"With so many unknowns with the 2021 schedule, we approach each practice with a positive mindset, an opportunity to improve," Mizuguchi said. "If we can have a full season, we will be ready. With all the COVID-19 protocols set in place, we will try our best to stay safe and healthy."