HONOLULU - The University of Hawai'i men's tennis team delivered a dominant showing to conclude its season-opening Manoa Fall Classic tournament on Sunday. UH won seven of eight singles matches while sweeping its three doubles matches to wrap up the Classic. Overall during the three-day tourney, the Rainbow Warriors won 22 of 25 singles matches while sweeping all nine of their doubles contests at the UH Tennis Complex.
Hawai'i set the tone early by sweeping all three doubles matches. UH's
Simon Knezevic and
Kent Mueller secured an 8-5 victory over Hawai'i Pacific's Ethan Terry and Seth Newman. Soren Grandke and
Kosuke Nakanishi put on a dominant display, rolling past Gavin Sonntag and Lucas Smolko of UC Santa Cruz, 8-2, while
Ian Layton and
Hikaru Takahashi pulled out a hard-fought 9-7 tiebreak win against the UC Santa Cruz duo of Landon Arendt and Caden Wong.
In singles, the Rainbow Warriors kept the momentum going. UH's Nakanishi picked up a straight-set victory over HPU's Rene Gabriel Jung, winning 6-1, 7-5. Hawai'i's
Adriano Dzhenev cruised past HPU's Ethan Terry with a crisp 6-1, 6-2 win. Grandke defeated UCSC's Benjamin Wang 6-3, 6-1. Takahashi recorded a solid 6-1, 6-3 result against the Banana Slugs' Lucas Smolko. UH's Layton fired a shutout, double-bageling UCSC's Hudson Ward 6-0, 6-0.
David Knesl was equally dominant, handing UCSC's Caden Wong a 6-0, 6-1 defeat, and
Simon Knezevic won a thriller against HPU's Seth Newman, taking the match in a third-set super tiebreaker 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 1-0 (10-8). Hawai'i's lone singles setback came at the hands of UC Santa Cruz's Jasper Hine, who edged out
Ethan Chun 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
Over the weekend, UH's Dzhenev, Grandke, Knesl, Knezevic, Layton, and Takahashi all went 3-0 in singles in the tourney.
The Rainbow Warriors will have three weeks to prepare for their first road trip in mid-October. Next up, the 'Bows will head to Malibu, Calif.
, to compete in the ITA Southwest Regionals hosted by Pepperdine from Oct. 15-20. UH will stay on the road as they head to the Mountain West Invite from Oct. 21-25 in Las Vegas, Nev.
Manoa Fall Classic - Day 3 Results
Sep 19, 2026 at Honolulu, O'ahu (UH Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
Soren Grandke (Hawaii) def. Ethan Terry (Hawai'i Pacific) 6-1, 6-4
Adriano Dzhenev (Hawaii) def. Seth Newman (Hawai'i Pacific) 6-3, 6-4
Hikaru Takahashi (Hawaii) def. Rene Gabriel Jung (Hawai'i Pacific) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
Lucas Smolko (UC Santa Cruz) def. Matteo Perrod (Hawai'i Pacific) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
David Knesl (Hawaii) def. Gavin Sonntag (UC Santa Cruz) 6-1, 6-2
Arthur Pery (Hawai'i Pacific) def. Hudson Ward (UC Santa Cruz) 6-1, 6-0
Simon Knezevic (Hawaii) def. Jasper Hine (UC Santa Cruz) 6-0, 6-1
Ian Layton (Hawaii) def. Caden Wong (UC Santa Cruz) 6-4, 6-0
Landon Arendt (UC Santa Cruz) def.
Ethan Chun (Hawaii) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
Simon Knezevic/
Kent Mueller (Hawaii) def. Gavin Sonntag/Lucas Smolko (UC Santa Cruz) 8-3
Adriano Dzhenev/
David Knesl (Hawaii) def. Arthur Pery/Rene Gabriel Jung (Hawai'i Pacific) 8-5
Ian Layton/
Hikaru Takahashi (Hawaii) def. Hudson Ward/Jasper Hine (UC Santa Cruz) 8-4
Ethan Terry/Seth Newman (Hawai'i Pacific) def. Landon Arendt/Caden Wong (UC Santa Cruz) 8-3
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