There are 32 tennis teams still playing in NCAA Division II and three are from Hawaii. Unbeaten Brigham Young-Hawaii is the top-ranked women’s team and, incredibly, is going through the worst slump of its D-II life. It hasn’t won a national championship in five years.

The Seasiders go after their eighth D-II title this week in Louisville, Ky. They open Wednesday morning against Nebraska-Kearney. BYUH also won two NAIA titles before joining the NCAA in 1999.

Fifth-ranked Hawaii Pacific plays Colorado Mesa on Wednesday. This is the sixth straight year HPU’s men and women have advanced to the final week. The sixth-ranked Sea Warrior men meet Shaw on Wednesday, with top-ranked Armstrong probably up next.

"If you make it past
that I think there’s
a very good chance
we could make it
all the way."

Hendrik Bode
HPU coach,
on facing Shaw
and, possibly, top-
ranked Armstrong

"That will be a tough one," says first-year HPU coach Hendrik Bode, "but that’s really the point. If you make it past that I think there’s a very good chance we could make it all the way."

Bode was the ITA senior male player of the year his final season, when he helped HPU to a third-place national finish. He played for Stefan Pampulov, who left at the end of last season after six successful seasons with the men’s and women’s teams. Lauren Conching, HPU’s athletics marketing coordinator and Pampulov’s assistant, is in her first year as women’s coach. She and Bode will marry next month.

Dave Porter is in his 20th season at BYUH. His women’s teams have gone 584-17. The only four losses the past four years came at nationals.

This year’s team is 26-0, with three players ranked in the top eight nationally — Annie Hwang (1) from Taiwan and Sherry Liu (4) and Jia Yuan (8) from China. Hwang was the 2011 national player of the year, and Liu is one of four freshmen who play a prominent role.

"This year we have two players back and the other four, people just heard about," Porter said. "They are nervous and anxious. They have high expectations, but a little anxiety. I hope they play well enough to do well. So far they have been fine."

The Seasiders beat HPU twice this season, and Porter believes there is a possibility they could play again in Saturday’s championship. The Sea Warriors have lost just five times this year. Not coincidentally, those were the same five days No. 1 singles player Zora Vickova lost. The senior is ranked 11th nationally and was just named the school’s top female athlete.

"She has been instrumental in changing our program," Conching said. "Before she came to HPU we had different standards, and once she came we completely changed what we expected of players — what was right and wrong and acceptable behavior, how people needed to act and what they needed to do. She really changed the level of our program."

Petr Michnev, the men’s top player, shared the school’s male honor with soccer player Kainoa Kuhui. Michnev is ranked eighth nationally, on a team that takes a 14-4 record into the round of 16, including wins over last year’s national finalists. Bode calls him a role model for every student-athlete he recruits from this point on.

All three Hawaii teams have a legitimate shot at a title. Conching calls her group "the strongest, deepest team we’ve ever had" and is still in awe of BYU-Hawaii’s "amazing attitude."

Bode says, "At this point in the season it’s all about believing in yourself."

Porter is unbeaten and rolling yet again, and incredibly hungry after such a "long" title void.