UH-Hilo men, Hawaii Pacific women go from season on brink to playing for NCAA Division II titles

The Hawaii Hilo men’s tennis team had just three players on campus during the fall semester, the rest of the squad still in Europe.

The Hawaii Pacific women’s tennis team couldn’t get onto its practice court at Ala Moana Regional Park for months due to county COVID closures.

When both of their seasons began in February, they stared at largely empty schedules. Flying out of the state was out of the question and opponents weren’t willing to fly to the islands either.

Months of abstractness have finally materialized into concrete goals. Both squads are fighting for national titles at this week’s NCAA Division II championships in Surprise, Ariz.

“In January we were going to prepare like we’re going to play a championship because what’s the worst that can happen,” said HPU women’s coach Lauren Conching. “If we do that and don’t have a championship, at least we were ready. The worse thing is if we don’t prepare, and we do have one.”

Hilo (10-2), the tournament’s fifth seed, plays fourth-seeded Concordia (N.Y.) (14-0) in today’s quarterfinals at 11 a.m. HPU (9-3), the fifth seed, plays fourth-seeded Columbus State (16-4) in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at 6 a.m. Both squads advanced after winning the NCAA West Regionals on May 8.

“This in some ways, I think, is the best season the Hilo tennis team has ever had,” said junior Joshua Liu, who transferred to Hilo after Sonoma State disbanded tennis in April 2020. “It’s a dream come true for me and for us.”

The HPU women played just four dual matches during the first two months of the season — three of them against Hilo — before their first road trip in April. HPU lost to Azusa Pacific 4-0 on April 17 and again to Azusa, 4-3, in the PacWest final a week later.

“We knew that our problem was the lack of competition,” said Conching, who noted Azusa played twice as many matches as HPU. “It wasn’t a level of talent, we weren’t getting outplayed, but it was the type of confidence that a lot of matches give you.”

Facing Azusa again in the regional final, HPU won 5-1.

“We learned a lot more when we lose against a team, and we really didn’t want to lose again,” said HPU senior Marleen Tilgner, who played two years at Columbus State. “We came on the court not being scared and wanting to win every point. It helped us to play more aggressive, to be more solid, have more confidence and it paid off in the end.”

Tilgner earned Peach Belt Conference player of the year honors at Columbus State before transferring to HPU. She was looking for a team with a greater support system.

“When we have matches, how much we scream for each other, how much we fight for every point, you can see we fight for each other,” Tilgner said. “When they are done with their match, they come to another match to support and look you in the eyes. You can see they really want you to win. That gives everyone the felling you’re not alone on the court but with six to 10 other people playing against one opponent.”

The Hilo men rallied to beat Azusa 4-3 to win their first PacWest championship in late April. Two weeks later, the Vulcans saved two championship points to beat HPU 4-3 in the regional final. Luca Checchia won at No. 4 singles in both matches to clinch the wins for Hilo.

“I’ve never seen a group of guys fight this year, especially in the conference final,” Hilo coach Kallen Mizuguchi said. “We went down in the doubles point. Alessio (Demichelis), our No. 2, was down 1-4 in the third set. Luca was battling at four back and forth. Martin (Soukal) at No. 1 took care of business at the top.

“They never gave up and fought to the end. That kind of energy is contagious. When one fights, everyone fights. The biggest sway for us in the higher stages was that energy. That’s what pushed us over the top to clinch that win.”

Mizuguchi said the college’s staff made the season possible. Counselors helped his international players with visas, flights and testing protocols. The Vulcans had just two February matches on the schedule to start the year before the athletic department made a March trip to California possible. As parts of the season materialized, so did goals.

“The first goal was to get the first matches done and see what happens,” Liu said. “Once we started to travel to California, play HPU again and we knew conference (tourney) was on, our goals changed. I think it was basically after we got the news (that) conference was on, we all set a goal to win it.”