MALIBU, Calif.-- The University of Hawai'i men's tennis team travels to Malibu, Calif. to compete in the 2026 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southwest Regional Championship hosted by Pepperdine from October 15-20, 2026. Eight of the Rainbow Warriors--Mats Breschneijder,
Adriano Dzhenev, Sören Grandke,
David Knesl,
Simon Knezevic,
Kent Mueller Kosuke Nakanishi, and
Hikaru Takahashi will be competing at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center for the six day tournament. The Rainbow Warriors will be competing against players from from Southern California and Arizona teams--including USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, San Diego, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Cal Poly, LMU, Grand Canyon and host Pepperdine.
RAINBOW WARRIORS NEWS & NOTES
- This is the first road trip for the UH men's tennis team. Hawai'i cruised through its Hawai'i Fall Classic. UH went 20-3 in singles and 9-0 in doubles against Hawai'i Pacific and UC Santa Cruz in September.
- Adriano Dzhenev, a junior from Haskovo, Bulgaria, went 3-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles with partner David Knesl. Dzhenev picked up three straight-set singles victories against Seth Newman (6-3, 6-4 twice) and Benjamin Wang (6-1, 7-6). Partnered with David Knesl in doubles, he claimed victories over HPU's Pery/Jung (8-5) and UC Santa Cruz's Arendt/Wong (8-5).
- David Knesl, a freshman from Nový Jičín, Czechia, recorded a 3-0 mark in UH's Mānoa Fall Classic while going 2-0 in doubles with partner Dzhenev. Knesl swept all his singles matches against Gavin Sonntag (6-1, 6-2 twice) and Hudson Ward (6-1, 6-2).
- Simon Knezevic, a junior from Nikšić, Montenegro, finished the Mānoa Fall Classic with a flawless 5-0 overall record across singles and doubles partnered with Kent Mueller. He dropped just four games across his singles matches over Jasper Hine (6-0, 6-1 twice) and Gavin Sonntag (6-3, 6-2). He paired with Kent Mueller for 8-3 and 8-4 doubles victories.
- Sören Grandke, a senior transfer from Dreieich, Germany, was perfect with an overall record of 5-0 on the weekend. He earned straight-set singles victories against HPU's Ethan Terry (6-1, 6-4 twice) and Seth Newman (6-2, 6-1), alongside an 8-4 doubles win over Terry/Newman with partner Kosuke Nakanishi.
- Hikaru Takahashi, a sophomore who hails from Kanagawa, Japan, went undefeated in the Fall Classic, securing singles wins over Rene Gabriel Jung (7-6, 6-2 twice) and Rocco Melendez (6-2, 6-3). He partnered with Ian Layton to earn two 8-4 doubles victories over UCSC's Ward/Hine.
- Kent Mueller returns for his sophomore year at UH. In the Fall Classic, he bounced back from a singles loss against HPU's Ethan Terry (6-2, 6-4) by teaming up with Simon Knezevic for a pair of doubles wins over UCSC tandems (8-3 and 8-4).
- Kosuke Nakanishi, a senior, went undefeated in limited action, claiming a 6-3, 6-4 singles victory over Matteo Perrod and an 8-4 doubles win alongside Sören Grandke against Terry/Newman.
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