Rainbow Warrior tennis: Ilagan bursts onto scene

Andre Ilagan is being heard.

His play on the tennis court, of course, has been loud for some time now. You don’t emerge from Kalihi to become two-time state singles champion in a sound vacuum. But lately, it’s been Ilagan’s vocalization between the lines that’s represented his leap to the next level.

“My dad told me never to yell because he thought it was bad. I’m pretty sure it was bad before,” Ilagan said after his most recent match for Hawaii. “Before college I was really quiet, focused on me. But since I’m in college and on the team, I guess it’s good yelling.”

The Farrington alumnus and 2018 Hawaii High School Hall of Honor inductee has made an instant impact with the Rainbow Warriors. He earned a rare promotion for a freshman to the No. 1 singles court and is 5-1 in dual matches (3-1 at No. 1) heading into this weekend’s Pacific Mountain Invitational hosted by Pacific in Stockton, Calif.

The last time longtime UH coach John Nelson moved a freshman up to the top spot was in 2007-08, when another local product, Dennis Lajola, ended up winning WAC freshman of the year.

It was apparent pretty quickly that Ilagan, who made a late recruiting switch to play at UH instead of on the West Coast, has that same aura — if in a slightly smaller package at 5 feet 7.

“He is such a spark plug for the team,” Nelson said. “He’s got one of the best attitudes I’ve come across in years. Honest, works hard, and that’s what I look for.”

In the team’s most recent action on Feb. 10 at the UH Tennis Complex, Ilagan was locked in a tight battle with Pacific’s Phillip Hjorth. Ilagan, who beat Hjorth in a three-setter at the No. 1 court the previous day, looked poised to battle back after dropping the first set for the second straight day. When Hjorth was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, Ilagan broke him and took the next game to go up 6-5.

Ilagan won the first two points of Hjorth’s ensuing serve — putting him two away from the match — but could not close it out and lost 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3).

Nelson was encouraged by his protege’s play in defeat. Having a patient mind and not rushing things with victory within one’s grasp — and not reaching for the fastball every time — are skills that must be learned.

“He’s learning how to come in and volley, use time better. Short balls, moving the net,” Nelson said. “He’s getting more comfortable on the net. He’s learning to use his (lefty) serve as a weapon now.

“If he’s not getting better I’m not doing my job,” Nelson added with a laugh. “Trust me, he can get a lot better.”

Throughout, the young Ilagan continuously pumped himself up with battle cries between points. “Let’s gooo!” or “What!” after hitting a winner; some cries of exasperation after letting one get by. Periodically, he’d yell some encouragement at his teammates playing on the adjacent courts, and they responded in kind. That day, though, Pacific got the better of them, 4-2.

At Farrington, he’d be the only player to advance to states, so he never got to experience a true team sensation at the highest levels of prep play. But he’s picked that up quickly on a young team that’s won and lost together.

To his credit, he shook off his first collegiate career dual match defeat well enough to speak to a reporter within minutes.

“When we see not great attitude, when we’re mentally down, eyes are down, (I) try to pump everyone up,” Ilagan said. “Even for myself, down first set, I get frustrated with myself. I have to express my feelings, yell, to let out my anger. I guess that’s a good way to do it.”

Ilagan’s father, Sergio, approves of the vocalization symbolizing his son’s next step in his career. Sergio Ilagan played only basketball in the Philippines before moving to Hawaii. Here taught himself and Andre’s two older brothers (state finalists both) to play tennis on courts behind Kalakaua Intermediate. But Andre had an insatiable appetite for it from his earliest days.

“He changed big time. Big time,” Sergio Ilagan said after watching his son compete against Hjorth. “He improve a lot, too. Everything. Because he was young, I train him how always, be humble, work hard always. To pursue your career of tennis, you have to love the game always. Now, he love the game. He keep improve and improve. Hopefully, he’s not going to stop doing it. I pray for him. I always support him no matter what.”

As the family story goes, if he’d come out a girl, Martina would’ve been the name, after Martina Hingis, the top-ranked women’s player when he was born in 2000.

But maybe it was fate he was named for the great Andre Agassi. Ilagan’s bold namesake never had much of a problem communicating how he felt.

He’s certainly had no trouble getting noticed. On Jan. 11, Ilagan was the only UH player to notch a singles win over Louisville; he topped Christopher Morin-Kouggoucheff while competing at the No. 2 court. Soon after, he swapped places with previous UH No. 1 Blaz Seric. The move was rewarded when Ilagan had an outstanding 3-0 run through the UNLV tournament in early February, netting him a Big West player of the week award.

He even got to try his hand against pros as a wild-card entrant to the Hawaii Open at the Blaisdell in December.

“He’s getting a lot more sophisticated as a player,” Nelson said. “He can see he can hit it, but a lot of times, hitting it isn’t always the best thing. You gotta have a plan, what the guy’s like, what they don’t like.”

Ilagan’s only been a college player for a matter of months, but maybe the most important thing he’s picked up is this.

“Instead of playing for myself, I’m playing for the team now,” Ilagan said.