HONOLULU — Andre Ilagan has his opponents right where he wants them: favored.
With good reason, the Hawaii tennis star from Kalihi has been a marked man in the Big West Conference for a while now. That culminated this season with a preseason No. 11 ranking, a Big West Player of the Year nod and a Bonham Award as UH’s top male athlete in any sport.
So, being an underdog during the conference season has not been an option for the Farrington High product, whose humble origins at the Kalakaua Courts gave way to stardom in the prep ranks as a two-time Hawaii state singles champion.
But now, as he begins the NCAA men’s singles tournament on Monday, the 5-foot-8 junior is back to being the little guy. He faces Alabama’s Filip Planinsek in the first round of the 64-player field at noon Hawaii time at the University of Illinois’ tennis complex.
Planinsek, the SEC Freshman of the Year, is ranked No. 25 in the ITA poll while Ilagan is No. 40.
“I’m back to being an underdog, how I usually am, which is great for me,” Ilagan said earlier this month. “That’s where I perform the best. I just like my chances where these guys are the top bids and they have a lot more pressure than me.”
Ilagan proved a few months ago that he can thrive in such a setting. Ilagan emerged from qualifying in the ITA All-American Tournament in October, upsetting six ranked players to get all the way to the semifinals before losing. He was then invited to the 32-player Fall Championships – an unprecedented honor for a UH player – and reached the quarterfinals.
From that amazing run, Ilagan emerged with a No. 11 ranking, the highest ever for anyone in the program.
“To put it in perspective, nobody had ever come out of (ITA qualifiers) in the past at the University of Hawaii,” UH head coach Joel Kusnierz said. “For Andre to qualify for the men’s draw was already huge, already historic. Then to win one after another round in the draw was extraordinary. But when you’re in it, you take one match at a time.”
He finished the Big West season ranked No. 40 after going 9-4 in dual match singles at the No. 1 court.
A big lesson for him this year was to never underestimate his opponent, but also respect himself. Previously, he would tend to doubt himself against top players, he acknowledged.
With his small stature, Ilagan can take opponents by surprise with big serves and ground strokes. Taking down giant after giant in the fall made something click: “Look, I can get through these top guys,” he told himself.
Kusnierz called Ilagan a “dream player” to coach who is the hardest working, yet most humble and willing to help his teammates.
“He is the shortest on the team yet he has the best strokes on the team, he hits the fastest shots on the team,” the coach said. “He’s never afraid to just go for it, and he does it with such ease that it’s truly remarkable.”
Ilagan, who got the Big West’s automatic bid, is just the second UH men’s player to get a berth in the NCAA singles tournament. Andreas Weber was an at-large selection in 2007.
“My goal for college was just to turn around the Hawaii program for tennis,” Ilagan said. “When I came in, they weren’t very good and the fact that we’re able to compete with all these top schools and in our conference now is a huge game-changer.”
Ilagan took inspiration from the NCAA women’s singles run that former Rainbow Wahine tennis star Petra Melounova went on in 2019. UH’s star from the Czech Republic reached the round of 16 despite playing with an injured shoulder.
“The fact that she was serving underhanded because of her shoulder and made it for a couple of rounds showed the competitiveness she had in her to make it that far,” Ilagan said. “So she’s my motivation for this trip. Thank you (to Petra).”
The NCAA tournament matches are being live streamed. All matches are best of three sets.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.