IRVINE, Calif.--University of Hawai'i men's tennis player Azuma Visaya earned his first Big West Player of the Week award on Wednesday. The 77th-ranked Visaya, a junior transfer from UCLA, notched a singles win over a Top 25 player and recorded a pair of doubles wins with partner Tianhao Hou this past week to open the 2025 season.

The Honolulu-native began the 2025 season with a bang, upsetting No. 22 Jamie Connel of 10th-ranked Florida State on the opening day of the Manoa Classic. Visaya won his first set against Connel by a break. But the second set was a back-and-forth battle in which the momentum swung between the two competitors. Visaya was able to edge out Connel 11-9 in a hard fought tiebreaker to end the straight-set win, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).
 
On the second day of the Mānoa Classic, Visaya battled back after dropping the first set by a break to force a third set super tiebreaker which he fell to #43 SMU's Jerry Barton, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6). In UH's first dual match of the season, Visaya hung tough in a rematch against Connel, but fell in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. And against #43 SMU's 48th-ranked Trevor Svajda, Visaya came up just short falling in a first set tiebreaker that ended in a straight-set loss, 7-6 (6), 6-1.
 
In doubles, Visaya and partner Tian Hao Hou won their first match together by knocking off FSU's Joshua Dous-Karpenschif and Jan Sebasta, 6-3 in the Manoa Classic. Later, Visaya and Hou defeated off FSU's Alex Bulte and Erik Schlessl by a break, 6-4 to clinch the doubles point in UH's first dual match of the season for Hawai'i.