University of Washington
Hawaii
Men's Tennis Records First Win of 2026
January 11, 2026 | Men's Tennis
Washington Men's Tennis Defeats Hawai'i 6-1
HONOLULU- The University of Washington's Men's Tennis team (1-0) defeated the University of Hawai'i, 6-1 tonight at the UH Tennis Complex. Scheduled for a 6PM PT start time, a rain delay of an hour and a half pushed back the start time to 7:30PM PT.
This delay did little to discourage the Huskies, as they took the early Doubles point to advance to Singles play up 1-0. The Dawgs No.2 duo of Stephane Kamendje/Nikola Plavsic defeated the Rainbow Warriors pair Toa Maeda/Azuma Visaya by a score of 6-3, this is the duos first win together since November versus Portland State. To win the point, the Purple-and-Gold-clad duo of No. 1 Soham Purohit/Brett Pearson defeated Hawai'i's No. 1 pair Timothy Li/Kosuke Nakanishi by way of match break, 6-4.
This early lead fueled an already confident Huskies squad, as they would go on to win the match in its totality, 6-1, after all matches played out as agreed upon from both coaching staffs.
Washington sophomore Stephane Kamendje made quick work of his opponent, 'Bows junior Kosuke Nakanishi, winning comfortably 6-4, 6-2 to gain the first singles point for the Huskies this season. Not far behind, Dawgs No. 3 Rohan Belday also took a decisive victory over UH's redshirt senior Timothy Li by way of 6-3, 6-2.
The lone Husky loss on the evening came by way of a heartbreaking set break during the course of Washington senior Brett Pearson's match against Hawai'i's Toa Maeda, 1-6, 5-7.
UW Freshmen Daniel Bien at the No.6 and Hyeon Seok Seo at the No.5 both contributed to the win column tonight, as both won their respective Singles matches against UH's Ziwen Ju, 6-2, 7-5, and Hikaru Takahashi, 6-3, 6-3. Of note, these are the collegiate singles debuts and wins for both men.
The final, and most intense match of the evening, belonged to Big Ten Player to Watch and 89th-ranked Soham Purohit. While Soham did win both sets, UH's Azuma Visaya provided an exceptional showing, holding early leads in both sets. Purohit was able to rally back from 1-3 in the first set, forcing an 8-6 break. In the second set, the battle continued and was allowed to be finished by both sets of coaches. Visaya again took an early lead, however, Soham was ultimately able to rally back and prevail, 7-2, in the tiebreaker, winning the match 7-6 (2), 7-6 (1).
The Huskies return home to Montlake for their Home Opener next Saturday, January 17th, facing the Belmont University Bruins from the Nordstrom Tennis Center at 11AM PT. For more information on the UW Men's Tennis Team, follow @UW_MTennis on X and Instagram.
Match Summary
Washington 6, Hawaii 1
Jan 10, 2026, in Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawai'i
UH Tennis Complex
Singles
1. #89 Soham Purohit (WASH) def. Azuma Visaya (UH) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-2)
2. Stephane Kamendje (WASH) def. Kosuke Nakanishi (UH) 6-4, 6-2
3. Rohan Belday (WASH) def. Timothy Li (UH) 6-3, 6-2
4. Toa Maeda (UH) def. Brett Pearson (WASH) 6-1, 7-5
5. Hyeon Seok Seo (WASH) def. Hikaru Takahashi (UH) 6-3, 6-3
6. Daniel Bien (WASH) def. Ziwen Ju (UH) 6-2, 7-5
Doubles
1. Soham Purohit/Brett Pearson (WASH) def. Timothy Li/Kosuke Nakanishi (UH) 6-4
2. Stephane Kamendje/Nikola Plavsic (WASH) def. Toa Maeda/Azuma Visaya (UH) 6-3
3. Kent Mueller/Hikaru Takahashi (UH) vs. Rohan Belday/Hyeon Seok Seo (WASH) 5-5, DNF
Match Notes:
Washington 0-0
Hawaii 1-1
Rain Delay: 1.5 Hours
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (2,3,4,5,6,1)
Players Mentioned
