REPEAT COMPLETE
Last week, Hempfield’s Derek Hagino failed to defend his L-L League Class AAA singles title, falling to Cedar Crest's Colin Muraika in the championship match.
Monday, Hagino got another shot at Muraika.
And this time, Hagino got some payback, and climbed back to the top of the District 3-AAA singles bracket for the second year in a row.
Hagino, fresh off a 6-3, 6-2 semifinal win over Exeter’s Nolan Perugini earlier in the day, beat Muraika 7-5, 6-2 in an all-L-L district finale at Hershey Racquet Club.
Muraika rallied past Hagino 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the L-L title match last Monday. Turns out Hagino used that as motivation to get the job done in the district tourney, and he delivered.
Hagino beat Conestoga Valley’s Darren Mast 6-3, 6-4 in last year’s district title match.
Hagino, Muraika and Warwick’s Tony Deimler qualified for the state tournament; Deimler, who fell to Muraika 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 in the semifinals, came back to beat Perugini 6-3, 6-2 in the third-place match, as three L-L players punched their tickets to the PIAA tourney, set for May 23-24 back at Hershey Racquet Club.
L-L POWER
Make that five L-L champions in a row in District 3-AAA singles play:
Hagino has won the last two titles, Cedar Crest’s Wes Fortna won in 2012, Manheim Township’s Jack Barry won in 2011 (before transferring to the Hill School in Pottstown), and Lampeter-Strasburg lefty Jody Sambrick won in 2010.
FYI: Hagino and Muraika are juniors, and Manheim Central’s Connor Merrill, who bowed out in the quarterfinals and nearly made it four L-L players in the semifinals, is a freshman.
TURNING POINT
In the title match, Muraika, feeling fine after knocking out Deimler in straight sets in the semis, bolted to a 5-3 lead.
That’s when Hagino caught fire.
Fixing some mistakes he learned from last week’s loss in the league finals, Hagino became the aggressor, winning the next four games in a row to grab a 7-5 first-set win — and momentum.
In control, and with another district gold medal in his sights, Hagino, who teamed with Tommy Athey to win the L-L Class AAA doubles crown last week, dropped just two games in the second set and closed out Muraika.
SET OF THE DAY
Muraika outlasted Deimler 8-6 in a first-set tiebreaker in their semifinal match. Deimler trailed 4-2 but rallied to take a 6-5 lead. But he misfired on his first serve, Muraika pounced on the second serve, and took the tiebreaker by scoring three points in a row.
With plenty of momentum on his side, Muraika cruised to a 6-1 second-set win and to a spot in the finals vs. Hagino.
THEY SAID IT
Hempfield’s Derek Hagino — “It feels really good. It was a huge goal for me to get the title back, especially after not winning the L-L last week. … I thought about what I did wrong last week, and I was just thinking about doing a better job. I was able to get back my groove, and I was trying to just stay consistent and hope he made some mistakes. … It’s been an amazing ride, and it’s great to come here and get back-to-back titles.”
Warwick’s Tony Deimler — “I had a lot of mini-goals coming into the season back in March. But the No. 1 goal all along was to make states. Last year I fell just short of it, so to come back this year and accomplish my goal is great. I made it motivational; I didn’t want this to end.”