HONOLULU - The University of Hawai'i women's tennis team opens its 2024 season with a bang, hosting the high-powered Weinman Foundation Invitational. The five-day, five-team tournament will run from Wednesday, Jan. 3 - Sunday, Jan. 7 with all matches played at the UH Tennis Complex. Highlighting the competition coming to Honolulu is the defending ACC Champs - the NC State Wolfpack which finished the NCAA Championship in second place a season ago. The other incoming three teams all finished the 2023 season ranked in the ITA--#24 Florida State, #32 California, and #75 BYU.
| 2024 WEINMAN FOUNDATION INVITATIONAL |
| Teams: |
Hawai'i, BYU, California, Florida State, NC State |
| Dates: |
Wednesday, Jan. 3 - Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 |
| Start Time: |
Matches will start at 9:00 a.m. HT every day |
| Site: |
UH Tennis Complex - Honolulu, O'ahu |
| Social Media: |
@UofHawaiiTennis  | #HawaiiWTEN / #GoBows | @hawaiiwomenstennis  | @RainbowWahineTennis  |
HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE
The Rainbow Wahine are the defending Big West Champions and enter the 2024 season with a talented, young roster. Continuing to lead the 'Bows are All-Big West First Teamers
Ana Vilcek and
Nikola Homolkova. Joining UH's four returnees are an influx of highly touted newcomers. Two players are transfers--sophomore
Joelle Lanz transferred from Point Loma (DII) while junior transfer Stella Masuda matriculated from conference rival, Long Beach State to join former Beach teammate Homolkova in Manoa. Hawai'i welcomes three freshman to the team.
Macy Rose is a freshman who served as the team's manager last year and both
Nelly Knezkova (Prague, Czech Republic) and
Isabella Pampulov (Honolulu, O'ahu) are true freshmen. Knezkova's resume most recently includes being selected to represent the Czech Republic in the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China this past summer.
Last year, UH posted a 14-8 overall record while winning both the regular season Big West crown with an 8-1 record as well as the BW Championship tournament to advance to its third NCAA appearance.
BYU COUGARS
The Cougars finished last season ranked at #75 in the final 2023 ITA poll. Formerly a member of the West Coast Conference, BYU enters its inaugural Big XII season. Member of the Cougars' squad did well in recent Fall competitions. Their doubles pairing of Jaques Dunyon and Bobo Huang advanced to the Round of 32 in the ITA National Fall Championships while Kendall Kovic battled her way to the Big 12 Fall Championship's finals match. Last year, BYU finished with a 13-9 overall record while going 6-3 in its final WCC season.
CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS
The California Golden Bears were ranked No. 34 in the final ITA poll of 2023. In singles, Cal enters the season with three ranked players leading the way--No. 12 Hannah Viller, No. 17 Jessica Alsola, and No. 36 Katja Wiersholm. In doubles, Hannah Viller and Mao Mushika come into the Spring ranked at No. 14.
Last year, the Golden Bears recorded a 12-10 overall record while going 7-3 in the Pac-12 to finish third and advanced to its 40th appearance in the NCAA Championship tournament.
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
Two Florida State doubles teams begin the season ranked in the ITA with Victoria Allen and Millie Bissett enter ranked at NO. 43 while Ellie Schoppe and Maelie Monfils is ranked at No. 48. In singles, Anna Arkadianou leas FSU with a 6-2 record while Allen, Bisset and Schoppe are right behind all with five wins apiece. In doubles, Monfils and Schope lead the team with a solid 5-1 Fall record together.
Last season, the Seminoles finished the 2023 season ranked 24th in the final ITA poll after posting an overall record of 17-11 and a 7-6 record in the ACC. In the NCAA Championship, FSU defeated 35th-ranked Illinois in the First Round before falling to No. 3 Georgia in the Second Round.
NC STATE WOLFPACK
The experienced Wolfpack squad features four seniors, one sophomore and four freshman. Six of NC State's nine players are currently ranked in the most recent ITA rankings. Senior Amelia Rajecki comes to Honolulu hot ranked at No. 3. Fellow seniors Sophie Abrams and Abigail Rencheli comes into this week ranked at No. 19 and No. 27 respectively. The only sophomore on the team, Anna Zyryandova is at No. 40 and rookie Maddy Zampardo is ranked at No. 116.
Last year, NC State had a phenomenal season advancing all the way to the NCAA Championship match before falling to finish in second-place. The 2023 ACC champions rolled through the first five rounds at the NCAA's, knocking off four-straight ranked programs--including a sweep over then No. 6 Stanford to face top-ranked and conference rival North Carolina. NC State finished with a 28-5 overall record and a 10-3 mark in conference.
