GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii doubles partners Paige Mainor, left, and Lauren Fitzgerald are part of a senior class that leads the Wahine into the WAC Tennis Championships, beginning tomorrow.

WAC teams
descend on UH

Hawaii is host of the conference
tournament for the first time
since the 1984 season

This week's Western Athletic Conference tennis championships represent an opportunity for the Hawaii teams to show off their new digs, and perhaps pull off a couple of surprises.

WAC Tennis Championships When: Women, Thursday to Saturday. Men, Friday to Sunday Where: UH Tennis Complex Defending champions: Fresno State (women), Rice (men) Tickets: Tournament packages, $12 (adult), $5 (students). Individual sessions, $5 (adult), $2 (students). Tickets available at the gate. Parking: $3.

UH is serving as host for the WAC tournament for the first time since 1984, and both teams are looking forward to showcasing the school's newly renovated tennis complex while attempting to make a run in the event.

"It's an honor for us to have it here, it's something we've been looking forward to since our freshman year," Rainbow Wahine senior Lauren Fitzgerald said. "It's really exciting."

The women's tournament begins tomorrow with two play-in matches starting at 9 a.m., with the quarterfinals to follow. The semifinals are Friday and the championship is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday. Rice is the top women's seed.

The seven-team men's bracket opens with three quarterfinal matches Friday morning. Top-seeded Boise State has a bye into Saturday's semifinals and the conference champion will be crowned Sunday morning.

All of the matches will be played at the 12-court UH Tennis Complex, which underwent a facelift last fall.

"So many people have commented on what a beautiful facility this is," UH men's coach John Nelson said. "This is one of the nicer collegiate facilities in the country."

Both Hawaii teams are seeded sixth and face third-seeded Southern Methodist in their quarterfinal matches.

With five nationally-ranked teams in the men's bracket and four on the women's side, the unranked Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine enter the championships as underdogs. But they're hoping the homecourt edge can give them a boost into the later rounds.

"It's a perfect atmosphere. This facility is unbelievable," said Bryon Weinberg, a junior on the men's team. "We're used to the courts, we're used to the bounce, the heat, the humidity. Definitely we're in our comfort zone out here so it should be a good showing."

As they welcome the rest of the league to Manoa, the UH teams will also get their first look at WAC competition as neither squad faced a conference team prior to their matches with Boise State this week.

The Rainbow Wahine (9-14) closed the regular season with a 6-1 loss to BSU yesterday. The UH men (6-13) play the No. 30 Broncos, who feature former Punahou standout Ikaika Jobe, today at 3 p.m.

"I think it's to our advantage," junior Ryan Sceats said. "We've played a lot of ranked teams, but no one in the WAC. So we've played guys like this before, but they haven't seen us play. Nobody's really expecting that much from us, so I think surprise is on our side."

Sceats has won 12 of his last 13 singles matches to lead the UH men's team. Weinberg posted 16 singles wins after winning just five matches last year.

Although the Rainbows have gotten some strong individual performances, the team format requires contributions from the entire roster in order to advance.

"It's not like basketball, where if you're not playing well you can sub somebody in," Weinberg said. "Here it's basically one-on-one and you have to take care of your job and hope everybody on the team does the same thing."

Wins were hard to come by early in the season for the Rainbow Wahine, but they strung together four straight victories prior to yesterday's loss to generate some momentum heading into the tournament.

"We have to expect that when we step on the court we always have a chance to win. That's what I have to put in their minds," UH women's coach Carolyn Katayama said. "SMU is a third seed, they're nationally ranked, so I think we should feel that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

The Wahine are led by the senior class of Fitzgerald, Justine Boutet, Kimberly Curtis and Paige Mainor. Fitzgerald is 20-10 in singles and owns a 13-11 doubles mark with Mainor. Boutet and sophomore Sylvia Jaros went 8-1 in second doubles.

Fitzgerald is UH's lone representative in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association's computer rankings at No. 103.

"I think everyone's gotten a lot of confidence the last four or five matches," she said. "It'll be a good experience."

Note: Both of the 2001 state high school individual champions will be in town for the WAC championships. Tracie Chong, the lone senior on the Rice women's team, won the girls title. Jobe won the boys crown for Punahou that year and teamed with Bradley Lum-Tucker to win last summer's Kailua Night Doubles tournament.