UH-Hilo tennis coach Kallen Mizuguchi isn’t an athletic trainer by trade, but he’ll play one in a pinch.
Martin Soukal doesn’t always rout top-ranked players, but a good plan helps.
Alessio Demichelis can’t play comeback king all the time, but he gets by with a little help from his friends.
Luca Checchia may well give into the pressure some day, but that day was not Saturday.
It was all hands on deck in Arizona, and for once it was never stacked against the Vulcans, who bounced top-seeded Azusa Pacific to claim their first Pacific West Conference championship and the school’s first since 2014 (men’s golf).
The Phoenix-area municipality in which the finals were held and in which the season will continue is aptly named: Surprise!
“Sorry about my voice, a lot of yelling,” Mizuguchi said by telephone after having dinner. “I’m at a loss for words.”
That’s OK. Mizuguchi hadn’t yet digested all the wacky details yet of a 4-3 triumph, but his team’s resurgent performance spoke volumes.
After handing the Cougars (17-4) their first loss to a Division II foe, the Vulcans (8-2) no doubt enjoyed their postmatch spread. But they’ve got plenty more remaining on their plate, starting with a trip back to – Surprise! – on May 10-11 for the West Regional.
“When the boys get back (Sunday), I’m going to give them a few days off,” Mizuguchi. “They deserve it and should enjoy this. Many stressful situations.”
Perhaps most impressive was that the third time was indeed a charm for UHH, even long after Alessandro Giuliato transferred. Giuliato played No. 2 singles on the Vuls’ teams that finished PacWest runners-up in 2018 and 2019 (volunteer assistant Vaclav Slezak played No. 1). Giuliato is currently ranked No. 1 in D-II Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings for Barry University.
Ranked fourth is Azusa’s Jakob Schnaitter, who entered the day 17-0 and hadn’t so much as lost a set this season until Soukal cut him down for size, 6-3, 6-3.
“We had a meeting coming out and talked about a strategy, and it worked,” Mizuguchi said.
Demichelis played giant killer as well, even with a bad back. The freshman from Italy had to default his match during Friday’s semifinal win against Hawaii Pacific, but Mizuguchi, along with the in-house trainer, stepped in to help Demichelis get right.
“I’m not a trainer, but we had to deal the cards that we had,” Mizuguchi said.
Demichelis appeared to have been dealt a poor hand as he dropped four of the first five games in the third set, but he claimed five games in a row to pull off a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win.
“We needed him and he battled back and showed what he was made of,” Mizuguchi said.
Joshua Liu’s 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles represented UHH’s first breakthrough, but Santiago Di Loreto’ 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 loss at No. 6 tied the match 3-3 and left matters to Checchia.
Court four quickly turned into center court as each team moved in catch a glimpse of Checchia and Leyton Bohren duking it out. Checchia took a 5-4 lead in the third set when a broken net caused a delay.
But after eight years, the university’s title drought didn’t last much longer. The Spaniard held serve and raced away from a 15-15 tie with three consecutive points, breaking Bohren and advancing the Vuls in one fell swoop.
“I have absolute confidence in Luca,” Mizuguchi said. “Honestly, the match could have gone either way, but he stayed strong mentally.”
Everyone did.
“We have been limping along the last few weeks with various injuries, but we really stepped up today and throughout this tournament,” Mizuguchi said. “It was a really gutsy performance, all across the lineup.”
He entered the tournament not knowing, because of injury, what he had, and wondering if it would be enough “to go get one.”
When asked after the match if anything about the day’s events had caught him off guard, he chuckled.
Next stop: Surprise!
UHH 4, Azusa Pacific 3
Singles
1. Martin Souka (UHH) def. Jakob Schnaitter (APU), 6-3, 6-3.
2. Alessio Demichelis (UHH) def. Sam Sippel (APU), 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
3. Ryan Nuno (APU) def. Chun En Wu (UHH), 6-2, 6-2.
4. Luca Checchia (UHH) def. Leyton Bohren (APU), 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 7-5.
5. Joshua Liu (UHH) def. Ian Lee (APU), 6-2, 6-3.
6. Cole Rassner (APU) def. Santiago Di Loreto (UHH), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Doubles
1. Schnaitter/Bohren (APU) def. Soukal/Di Loreto (UHH), 6-2.
2. Nuno/Sippel (APU) def. Checchia/Liu (UHH), 6-3.
3. Dylan Parsley/Ethan Smith (APU) vs. En Wu/Demichelis (UHH), 5-4, UNF.