Wahine tennis on the upswing

In a breakthrough of major proportions in Manoa, the Rainbow Wahine tennis team is talking about its national ranking and the conversation is in English. Both are noteworthy. Hawaii hasn’t been ranked in recent years and it has only two Americans on the team.

One is Sacred Hearts graduate Kelsey Daguio, who transferred home from Hawaii-Hilo with Pacific West Conference freshman of the year honors.

The other is freshman Jaime Pawid, born here, raised in Castro Valley, Calif., and twice a North Coast Section champion. Pawid is the first Wahine to come in as a "five-star" Blue Chip recruit by the Tennis Recruiting Network, which uses a computer-based rating for U.S. juniors.

"She was No. 24 in the U.S. when she committed to us," says UH coach Jun Hernandez. "By far the best American kid we’ve ever had."

Pawid is 5-2 at the No. 3 position. She was Western Athletic Conference player of the month in November, after beating Stanford’s Stacey Tan, No. 12 in the preseason, in straight sets.

Pawid plays behind Slovakians Barbara Pinterova and Katarina Poljakova. Pinterova, one of two seniors with Belgian Aglae Van den Bergh, is coming off a win over Texas Tech’s Elizabeth Ullathorne, No. 122 in the individual rankings.

Poljakova, an All-WAC selection her first two seasons, and Pawid surged into the doubles semifinals of the USTA/ITA Southwest Regionals last fall.

There are nearly 2,500 collegiate tennis teams in the U.S., part of the reason rankings go so deep (75 teams, 125 singles players and 60 doubles teams in Division I) and foreign players are so prevalent. Hawaii’s diverse lineup fits right in and its schedule is loaded. The Wahine are 5-5 as they continue an 11-match homestand today against Montana State and Wednesday vs. No. 21 Notre Dame (both begin at 1:30 p.m.). Two of the wins and all of the losses have come against ranked teams.

UH beat Penn State (now No. 53) and UC Irvine (No. 63) the first month of the season and made its Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranking debut three weeks ago at No. 74. After an idle week, it shot up to 52nd when the Nittany Lions and Anteaters — a future Big West opponent — went unbeaten.

"It’s nice to have it, a good start," Hernandez says. "It really symbolizes how much the kids are working hard and getting better. We’ve started from nothing. The fact is, we all believe in the program and believe we can get better and go beyond."

Hawaii’s initial goals this season were to win its final WAC tournament and get into the top 50. "We just changed that goal," Pawid says. "We set a new goal to be top 40 in the nation."

That would get the Wahine into their first NCAA tournament, no matter what happens at the WAC championships late next month.

Pawid chose Hawaii over Texas Tech, Washington and Saint Mary’s — all top-30 programs — partially because of her comfort level here, but mostly because she "trusted my game" with Hernandez. Both parents graduated from UH and initially advised her against coming here.

"Athletics were not as strong before, but to me that wasn’t an issue," Pawid said. "I knew if I came here I wanted to help raise athletics’ profile and be part of a team and hopefully bring everybody together as a team, so I’m happy."

Her parents found out about the initial ranking before she did and told her they were proud, as much for believing in Hawaii as for the honor. So was Pawid’s family here — an assortment of grandparents, aunts, uncles and kids that doubles attendance.

Hernandez’s four new faces this season have given him a depth missing in the past and brought new energy and enthusiasm, he says. He is looking forward to what this already historic season will bring, and next year’s Big West move.

"I love it," he says. "It’s tougher competition, but I love the competition. I’d rather play tougher teams. That schedule will help us recruit as well and we don’t have to travel as far. Everything is in California. I grew up in Southern California and coached in Northern California (Cal). Now I won’t get lost."

Pawid looks forward to the trips home, but the transition to college and Hawaii has not been as tough as she imagined.

"Actually, the part I thought would be the hardest was the easiest," she says. "That was getting along with the team. They are all pretty much European except for Kelsey. …When I came in I was the only American and I didn’t know how I’d deal with that. But they are all nice and so supportive of each other."