Like almost everything in the past two years, the 16th University of Hawai`i Hilo All-Sports Banquet had a different look in 2021.
Normally held in May to wrap up the year, this years' event was held virtually. Vulcan student-athletes watched the pre-recorded video to find out who won the various awards that covered UHH's 12 sports both athletically and academically.
The Vulcan Male and Female Athletes of the Year were tennis standout Martin Soukal and volleyball star Bria Beale. Soukal's men's tennis team was honored as the Vulcan Team of the Year.
The tennis team, coached by Kallen Mizuguchi, had another banner year. They won the Pacific West Conference Championship, the first Vulcan team in any sport to do so since 2014. They also captured the NCAA West Region title, and won a match at the NCAA Championships to finish third in the nation. The Vulcans finished the year 11-3, with 11 of their matches coming against teams that were nationally ranked.
Soukal was of course a big part of that success. The third-year player from the Czech Republic earned All-American, All-West Region and All-PacWest honors. He finished the season ranked 10th in the country in singles with a 9-4 record. At one point, he won eight straight matches, including a straight sets victory over the PacWest Player of the Year Jakob Schnaitter of Azusa Pacific in the PacWest Championship match. It was Schnaitter's only loss of the year. Soukal is now 27-8 on court one in singles during his Vulcan career.
Beale is now a three-time All-PacWest selection after helping to lead the Vulcans to a 14-2 spring season record. She led the conference in total kills and service aces, and was second in total points. With one season remaining in her Vulcan career, she already ranks sixth all-time in kills (977), is fifth in aces (99) and seventh in digs (855). Additionally, she was named to the All-West Region Academic Team for the second year in a row (CoSIDA), one of just eight players selected from the three west region conferences. The Eastvale, Calif. native graduated this spring with a 3.90 GPA in Communication, and is UH Hilo's NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.
A number of other UH Hilo student-athletes were honored for their athletic and classroom work this past year, including those who were named all-conference, all-region or had regional academic honors.
A Most Pono Vulcan was selected by his or her teammates for each sport—Pono meaning righteous and inspirational. Other awards given included the Sakai and Harue Wakakuwa Female Scholar Athlete of the Year (Olivia Jarvis, cross country), the Joe and Harriet Estrella Male Scholar Athlete of the Year (Luca Checchia, Tennis), the Community Engagement/Service Award (Women's Soccer), and the Ramon Goya Academic Teams of the Year (Men's Golf and Women's Basketball).
The Kokua Award (Volunteer of the Year) was given to Dee Nishioka and the Vulcan Booster of the Year went to the entire VBC Board of the Directors.
Here follows a list of awards that were announced virtually.
- Kokua Award/Volunteer of the Year: Dee Nishioka
- Vulcan Athletic Club Booster of the Year: Entire VBC Board of Directors
- Community Engagement and Service Award: Women's Soccer
- Sakai and Harue Wakakuwa Female Scholar Athlete of the Year: Olivia Jarvis, Cross Country
- Joe and Harriet Estrella Male Scholar Athlete of the Year: Luca Checchia, Tennis
- Ramon Goya Academic Teams of the Year: Men's Golf (3.51 GPA) and Women's Basketball (3.54 GPA)
- Male Athlete of the Year: Martin Soukal, Men's Tennis
- Female Athlete of the Year: Bria Beale, Volleyball
- Vulcan Team of the Year: Men's Tennis (Coach Kallen Mizuguchi)
 The following student-athletes were honored as having the highest accumulative grade point average on their team.
- Baseball: Casey Yamauchi, Kinesiology and Exercise Science, 3.67
- Men's Basketball: Anthony Haskett, Kinesiology and Exercise Science, 3.83
- Men's Golf: Nicholas Gomez, Business Administration, 3.55
- Men's Soccer: Michael Harre, Psychology, 3.83
- Men's Tennis: Luca Checchia, Business Administration, 3.87
- Softball: Markie Okamoto, Biology, 3.66
- Women's Basketball: Bree Olson, Kinesiology and Exercise Science, 3.92
- Women's Golf: Kaelyn Uchida, Psychology, 3.81
- Women's Soccer: Maisie Paulson, Psychology, 3.87
- Women's Tennis: Sandra Dafincescu, Business Administration, 3.88
- Volleyball: Bria Beale, Communication, 3.90
- Cross Country: Oliva Jarvis, Environmental Science, 3.98
The following student-athletes were selected as Most Pono Vulcans by their teammates.Â
Vulcan graduating student-athletes Kim Schmelz and Jamison Hirayama hosted the video event, which was filmed, produced and spliced together by Steve Kinder. The event included greetings and a close by athletic director Patrick Guillen.
