Hawaii might never replace Aiea’s Dennis Lajola, who came home to lift the Rainbows to their first three conference championships before going pro last spring.

This week, Lajola is working on his world ranking at the Delray Beach International Championships with Roger, Novak and Rafa.

Back in Manoa, you can almost hear the pitter patter of Chas Okamoto, Jared Spiker and Carter Lam’s feet as they try to help fill Lajola’s sneakers.

Okamoto, from Princeville, Kauai, won the past state high school championship and Spiker the two before that while at Kalani. Okamoto has upset three players from ranked teams his first year, including a win over Stanford’s No. 3 player.

"I was determined," said Okamoto, who is planning to major in engineering. "It was an attitude thing."

UH coach John Nelson has a roster dominated by underclassmen, with players from five countries and four states, most notably Hawaii. He knows college tennis is "an attitude thing" and is attempting to create one final Western Athletic Conference champion before moving to the Big West. "I don’t believe in rebuilding," Nelson said. "We’re going for it."

The coach insists he will get over last year’s WAC loss "some year." This team, unlike those led by Lajola, has been earning most points on the bottom rungs of the ladder. Nelson says its best trait is that the players show up every day "pretty positive and want to improve."

"We have the potential, but it’s up to them, it’s their team," Nelson said. "They keep talking about being conscientious. When you are conscientious you take pride in what you’re doing. You play every point like it’s match point.

"For me it’s fun because they all want to work."

Sophomore Jonathan Brooklyn has been playing No. 1 for the Rainbows, followed by Dmytro Kovalyov, Okamoto, Charlie Rice, Danilo Casanova, Spiker and Lam, who was home-schooled here. Brother Chris played the pro tour after winning an NCAA championship at UCLA.

Carter Lam was ranked second behind Matt Westmoreland in Boys 18s here. Westmoreland, now at Texas A&M, was last season’s Southland Conference Freshman of the Year while Lam was cramming at Kapiolani Community College. After taking a "burnout" break from the sport and school, he had to earn an AA degree in three semesters so he could fulfill his dream of playing four years at UH.

"The break was good for me to really appreciate the sport," Lam said. "Being competitive all the time is pretty draining. I’d just go out and hit for fun and that helped me appreciate it more. And being part of a team is a whole new experience as far as enjoyment."

Spiker needed time to get used to the college game’s intensity — "the teams are all in your face, playing mind games."

This year, the sophomore’s focus has been on hitting a "heavier" ball, much like Lajola.

"I need to be more aggressive," Spiker said. "In high school I played very smart. I didn’t hit the hardest ball, but I didn’t beat myself. Now I’m hitting more penetrating shots. It’s helped me a lot."

The goal this year remains the same: Win the WAC and reach the NCAA tournament. To have three players who grew up on Hawaii courts play a large part in that would be a rare bonus in one of college athletics’ most global games.

Okamoto’s early success has him reaching even higher, hoping to help the team get through to the NCAA’s third round for the first time.

"The biggest change is believing more in myself," he said. "Junior players don’t totally believe in themselves. Coach Nelson is really making me realize how much better I can be."

Notes

» Hawaii (1-4) hosts 20th-ranked Michigan on Thursday and 28th-ranked North Carolina next Wednesday. Both home matches begin at 2 p.m. UH’s only other home match is March 30 against UC Davis.

» After beating then-No. 56 UC Irvine on the road, the Rainbow Wahine (3-3) entered the rankings for the first time with coach Jun Hernandez, at No. 74 (of 75 ranked teams). After being idle for two weeks, they jumped up to No. 51 and open an 11-match homestand today at 1:30 p.m. against Eastern Michigan. UH plays 14th-ranked Michigan on Friday (1:30 p.m.) and Iowa State on Saturday (11 a.m.).

» Lajola won one round of qualifying at Delray Beach this week before being eliminated. His next stop is qualifying at the $4.7 million BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.