Decisions, decisions.

Academics or tennis?

Just when Petra Melounova reached the point of having to pick between the two as a promising student-athlete in the Czech Republic, a third — albeit distant — alternative emerged.

“Here the system works really well — we can both study and play college tennis,” the University of Hawaii freshman said. “In my country it does not really work like that. I would have to make a choice whether to try to go pro for a year or to go to college. This option was just a blessing because I got to do both.”

UH coach Jun Hernandez spotted Melounova during a scouting trip in Europe and the opportunity to pursue both of her interests convinced her to make the cross-global move to Hawaii.

Her decision to make the trek from Havlickuv Brod — about 90 minutes outside of Prague — to Manoa paid off nicely for both Melounova and the Rainbow Wahine.

After dropping the first match of her college career, Melounova reeled off 13 straight wins to help UH capture the Big West regular-season title and earn a spot in the NCAA Division I singles championship as the Big West’s highest-ranked player at No. 64 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.

The draw for the 64-player tournament will be revealed today, with play starting on Wednesday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.

“The goal is always the team first, to make it to the NCAAs, to win our conference, which we did in the regular season,” said Hernandez, the Big West coach of the year. “So this is really just a bonus for us having her represent the Big West (in) the NCAAs. … It’s a great honor for her to be in this position.”

Melounova’s win streak includes a 5-0 mark against Big West opponents, becoming the third player in conference history to claim both freshman and player of the year honors.

She went 7-0 in the No. 2 spot in UH’s singles lineup and is 6-1 at No. 1, with four matches going unfinished. She also teamed with sophomore Roxanne Resma to lead the Rainbow Wahine with an 11-3 doubles mark.

Melounova’s debut season helped the Rainbow Wahine finish 8-0 against Big West opponents to capture the regular-season title. Their bid for a collective trip to the NCAA tournament ended with a loss to UC Santa Barbara in the finals of the Big West tournament.

Melounova’s ITA ranking secured her an individual postseason berth, making her the second UH player to qualify for the tournament. Cindy Nguyen, who completed her UH career this spring, qualified in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

At 5 feet 6, Melounova appears to generate effortless power hammering from the baseline; she grew up playing primarily on clay courts in Europe. But Hernandez noted her willingness to attack translates well to playing on hard courts in the U.S.

“She’s a smart player, and the big thing about it is she’s a great competitor as well,” Hernandez said. “But the one thing that separates her from a lot of players is really being able to finish at the net well. She doesn’t mind taking the ball early and really making some opportunities to finish at the net.”

While Hernandez traveled to Europe to scout Melounova, who expressed an interest in engineering, she refrained from researching the islands before making her recruiting trip.

“When I first started to be in touch (with the coaches) I did not even look at pictures (of Hawaii),” Melounova said. “I just wanted to be surprised when I came here.”

After signing with UH, having two other players from her home country, juniors Marina Hruba and Klara Pribylova, eased her transition to a 10-member roster featuring players representing six countries.

“It made it easier to leave because I would have people I could talk to in my own language and we have the same mentality, so that helped a lot,” Melounova said.