SURPRISE, Ariz. – Azusa Pacific won its second PacWest Championships title on Saturday when
Leyton Bohren came from down triple championship point in the second set before winning a thriller in three sets 6-7(1), 7-6(6), 6-4 to defeat No. 1 seed Hawai`i Pacific, 4-3, at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Club.
For the second year in a row, Bohren found himself in a marathon match that would determine the PacWest Champion. Just like in 2021, every other match had finished with the overall score tied 3-3 while Bohren was still in a tight second set.
When
Jan Heine converted his sixth match point to win at No. 6 singles, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, Bohren and
Robin Sanz had just started its second-set tiebreaker as everyone in attendance migrated from court 19 over to court 15 at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Club.
Sanz had taken over the momentum of the match after Bohren led 5-1 in the first set as Sanz came back to take that set in a tiebreaker 7-1. Bohren had to save two match points to get to a second-set tiebreaker, where Sanz got out to a 3-1 lead and then a 6-3 lead to give the Sharks triple championship point.
Bohren saved both championship points on his serve to start a run of five points won in a row as he took the second set 8-6 in the tiebreaker. With a new lease on life, Bohren got off to a hot start in the third set, breaking serve right away to take a 3-0 lead. Both players settled in, holding their serves until it was Bohren’s turn to serve for the match at 5-3.
The ninth game of the set was determined on a deciding point as Bohren hit an approach shot long, allowing Sanz to get right back on serve. However, Bohren didn’t let his 5-4 lead slip away and earned three more championship points for himself after having saved five of his opponent's. On his second championship point almost three hours into the singles match, he hit a deep return that drew an error to clinch the victory, sending the Cougars celebrating in a pile on the court.
Saturday’s match was the fifth time that Azusa Pacific and Hawai`i Pacific had faced each other in the PacWest championship match and the first time that the Cougars earned the win, and the second time they won the conference.
“Until the very last minute, I thought we were going to lose, I really did,” head coach
Mark Bohren said. “I thought it was a difficult situation and Sanz is one of the best players in the country. Going into the match, that was going to be the toughest court to get a win on. To be able to beat them in this situation is really gratifying, because they are a good team and coached well. It might only happen once, but it was definitely worth the one time.”
After Azusa Pacific won the conference title in 2018, in the following year’s final, Hawai`i Pacific defeated Hawai`i Hilo. In that match,
Luca Checchia was the player against who the Sharks clinched the PacWest title. In the next edition of the tournament in 2021, Checchia was in the same situation, playing against Bohren, and came through in the big moment. This time, it was Bohren’s turn to reverse what had happened the previous season, and he earned the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.
“I wanted the match to be determined at No. 6 singles, so that Leyton wouldn’t be in the same situation as last year,” Coach Bohren said. “I’m happy for him because it is never easy. He had been there before and you could see it. He looked more comfortable handling the pressure at the end.”
The Cougars got off to a fast start, winning the doubles point and straight-set wins by
Sam Sippel and
Elias Emilio Walter made the score 3-1 for the Cougars. Hawai`i Pacific’s first point came from PacWest Player of the Year
Jordi Walder, who won at No. 1 singles against
Ryan Nuno.
Sippel was another player who was looking for some redemption after having dropped his match at last year’s final. This time around, he fought through a tough first set and went on to defeat
Jan Pleva, 7-6(1), 6-3.
Walter finished runner-up in the Freshman of the Year voting to
Jakub Beran and the two players faced each other for the second time after Beran won the first meeting in straight sets. This time, Walter ended his opponent’s undefeated record this year in singles, winning the No. 4 singles match 6-4, 6-2. Walter began having cramps when he was just three points away from the victory and fought through the pain to win the match.
Benjamin Loccisano became the third player in tournament history to record six career singles wins as he won his match at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. Heine then won at No. 6 singles to tie the match score. He had four match points earlier, but
Ivan Hornung saved each of them to even the set, 5-5. However, Heine won the next two games to take the match. After the tournament, Nuno from Azusa Pacific was given the Sportsmanship Award for the tournament.
Elsewhere on the grounds of the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Club, Hawai`i Hilo won a must-win match against Point Loma, 4-2, to earn a berth into the NCAA West Regional. The top-4 teams in the NCAA West Region advance to the postseason, but teams must have a .500 winning record in order to qualify for the tournament. Both Point Loma and Hawai`i Hilo were one game under .500 going into Saturday’s match against each other and the Vulcans came through to keep their season alive.
Head coach
Kallen Mizuguchi had to find a way to add matches to Hawai`i Hilo’s schedule after the Vulcans started the season 1-8 as a result of playing a tough opening schedule that included the ITA Indoor National Championships. The Vulcans have now won eight of their last nine matches to earn a postseason berth.
Alessio Demichelis clinched the win, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory at No. 2 singles. The Vulcans’ ability to play well in tiebreakers proved crucial in the third-place match with
Martin Soukal also taking a first set tiebreaker in his 7-6(3), 6-4 win over All-PacWest honoree
Tyler Davis. Soukal’s record number of singles wins at the tournament is now at eight.
Luca Matheiowetz also won his singles match in straight sets for the Vulcans.
The two points from Point Loma came in the bottom two spots in the lineup with
Jasdeep Paintal winning 6-4, 7-5, while
Alejandro Castaneda won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.
Biola had its own marathon match in its win over Concordia, winning 4-3 to take some momentum into the NCAA West Regional.
Callen Hein needed just over two hours to win his match at No. 6 singles, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to clinch the victory for Biola.
This was just a day after
Antonio Rosales Varona was in the same situation, clinching a 4-3 win for Biola against MSU Denver. This time, he was bested by
Jan Simon, who won in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Tomas Gomez and
Alexei Prokopchuk both won for Biola in singles, while Concordia’s other two points came from
Adam Large and
Leon Czarnikau at No. 1 singles.
In the seventh place match, MSU Denver won 4-0 against Fresno Pacific in a match that took only an hour and 45 minutes.
Carlos Pinedo,
Andy Caruana and
Jack McDermott all won their matches in straight sets to give the Roadrunners a win to end the season.
Azusa Pacific earned the PacWest’s automatic bid into the postseason and the three at-large berths appear likely to be Hawai`i Pacific, Hawai`i Hilo and Biola. The teams will find out who and when they play the first round of the NCAA postseason next week. The No. 1 and 2 seeds will host the first round with the winners advancing to the NCAA Division II Championships in Florida.