Azuma Visaya, a senior from Honolulu and member of the University of Hawai’i men’s tennis team, has been named the first Big West Player of the Week for 2026. This marks his fourth career weekly conference honor.
Visaya began the season with a strong showing against California, ranked 15th nationally. He secured a win over Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski in a match that was decided by a third-set super tie-breaker. The final score was 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5). With both players having won one set each and the overall team result already determined, Visaya quickly took a 5-0 lead in the super tie-breaker and held on to claim victory.
In Hawai’i’s second match of the season, Visaya defeated Giovanni Branchetti from Gonzaga in straight sets, finishing 6-1, 6-4.
Visaya also competed against Washington’s Soham Purohit, who is ranked 89th nationally. The match was closely contested and ultimately decided by two tie-breakers, with Visaya narrowly losing 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-2).
In doubles play alongside partner Toa Maeda on court No. 2, Visaya posted a record of one win and two losses for the week. The pair lost their opening match to Leonard Cattaneo and Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski of California, 6-4. They rebounded with a win over Gonzaga’s Nicholas Reeves and Oscar Rashed by the same score before closing out their week with a loss to Stephane Kamendje and Nikola Plavsic of Washington, 6-3.
