BYUH, HPU will try to defend tennis titles
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Brigham Young-Hawai'i men's and women's tennis teams earned the top seeds for the Pacific West Conference Championships today in Billings, Mont.
The three-day, six-team tournament features the nation's No. 1-ranked men's and women's tennis players in BYUH's Jan Krejci and Adrienn Hegedus. Matches will be played at Rose Park and the Montana State-Billings Indoor Tennis Center.
BYUH's women and Hawai'i Pacific's men are the defending PacWest champions. BYUH went on to win the men's and women's Division II national titles, a feat never before accomplished by a Division II school in the same season.
The winners of the PacWest Championships receive an automatic berth to next month's NCAA II Regional Championships.
BYUH head coach David Porter said his women's team has a "pretty good chance" to defend its conference title, but said the men's title will be a "little more competitive."
BYUH and second-seed HPU are the top teams on the men's side. This season, BYUH leads the series against HPU, 2-0.
"On the men's side, every time we play Hawai'i Pacific it's an exciting match," said Porter, whose Seasiders narrowly beat HPU, 5-4, on March 25. "We're just hoping that we play well and make it to the final on Saturday."
HPU coach Henry Somerville said the Sea Warriors will likely have to defeat BYUH to defend the men's PacWest title.
"Most likely we'll be playing BYUH if all the seeding comes through," Somerville said. "It's going to be a battle. I think if we play our best we can beat them. We do have the talent. We just have to put it together."
The BYUH men's team (22-1) is ranked No. 2 in the nation. The Seasiders suffered a 5-4 loss to third-ranked West Florida one week ago.
The Seasiders are led by sophomore Krejci, who is the reigning PacWest Player of the Year. He is joined by all-conference junior and 12th-ranked Peter Madarassy. Krejci and Madarassy form the nation's top doubles team.
The HPU men's team (11-2), ranked No. 6 in the nation, is led by three all-conference players: junior Mikael Maatta, senior Blaz Jurjec and sophomore Matey Pampulov.
Rounding out the men's field is third-seeded Hawai'i-Hilo (5-8), fourth-seeded Montana State-Billings (8-8), fifth-seeded Chaminade (0-11) and sixth-seeded Western New Mexico (6-7).
On the women's side, the Seasiders (28-0) are ranked No. 1 in the nation. BYUH defeated Montana State-Billings, 9-0, yesterday and increased its winning streak to 57 matches.
BYUH is led by sophomore Hegedus, who is the reigning PacWest Player of the Year. The Seasiders also have seventh-ranked Judy Weng, a freshman from Taipei, Taiwan.
Second-seeded Hawai'i Pacific (8-5), ranked No. 14 in the nation, is led by senior Loni Matsunaga from Wahiawa and junior Doriniso Holdarova. Both players have been splitting matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles.
Third-seeded and 22nd-ranked Hawai'i-Hilo (12-6) is led by all-conference senior Nathalia Jung.
Other contenders will be fourth-seeded Montana State-Billings (7-9), fifth-seeded Chaminade (0-14) and sixth-seeded Western New Mexico (0-11).
In the latest West Region rankings, the BYUH men's and women's teams are ranked first. In the men's rankings, HPU is third followed by Hawai'i Hilo (sixth) and Chaminade (ninth). In the women's rankings, Hawai'i Pacific is sixth followed by UH-Hilo (seventh).
The top eight men's and women's teams will advance to the regionals. The top two teams in each region will host regional tournaments.
Today's schedule (HST)
Men's draw at Rose Park
(1) Brigham Young-Hawai'i vs. (6) Western New Mexico, 5 a.m.
(3) Hawai'i-Hilo vs. (4) Montana State-Billings, 8 a.m.
(2) Hawai'i Pacific vs. (5) Chaminade, 11 a.m.
Women's draw at Montana State-Billings
(3) Hawai'i-Hilo vs. (4) Montana State-Billings, 5 a.m.
(2) Hawai'i Pacific vs. (5) Chaminade, 8 a.m.
(1) Brigham Young-Hawai'i vs. (6) Western New Mexico, 11 a.m.
CHEERLEADING
• Building a dynasty: The HPU cheerleading team will lose just three members from its national championship team and will likely be better next season with incoming junior college transfers, graduate students and freshmen, according to head coach Ashley Edwards.
The Sea Warriors won their first national championship at the National Cheerleaders Association Chick-fil-A Collegiate Championship at Daytona Beach, Fla., on Friday. HPU beat 13 other teams to win the Division II category.
HPU also placed fifth in the grand champion category that featured the winners of the nine categories.
"We have a lot of people returning," Edwards said. "We're really excited about our new people coming in. The team is actually going to be even more talented next year."
The Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championship will be televised on Fox Sports Net April 30 and May 14.
The HPU cheerleaders are: Kristin Buenger, Kristen Carter, Cory Collins, Todd Decker, Kallie Elliott, Christina Feagans, James Fowler, Josh Gonzalez, Josh Graham, Billy Greineisen, Beka Johnson, Rachel Kettering, Amber Lefler, Thomas Locklayer, Clint Markle, Aaron Martin, Mike Melillo, Linda Nguyen, Keith Outlaw, Anthony Smith, Jeff Stringer, Patrick Trainor, Sean Werick, Iwalani Yamauchi.
