Philip Pakebusch was chosen the Division II National Player of the Year, and led Valdosta State’s men’s tennis team to a national championship.

For 364 days, the Valdosta State men’s tennis team had been hoping for a second chance at a national championship that had narrowly eluded them in 2010. When the Blazers got that second chance, they took advantage of it.

On May 14, the Blazers avenged a heartbreaking loss in the finals of the 2010 Division II national tennis tournament, beating defending champion Barry 5-2 in the 2011 finals.

The Blazers won two of their three double matches, then wrapped up the school’s second tennis national championship by winning three of the first four singles matches.

“I am just completely happy that we did it,” said Valdosta State’s Philip Pakebusch, the Division II National Player of the Year. “I cannot describe how I feel. There’s no words. I am just happy and excited.”

“It was very exciting,” Valdosta State head coach John Hansen said after the match. “It’s a great team. You can’t ask for a better bunch of guys.”

For almost a year, the Blazers had been working towards getting another chance at a national championship. In 2010, they made it to the finals, and built a 4-2 lead against Barry. They only needed to win one more match, and all three VSU players still on the court appeared to have a good chance to win. But the Central Florida heat can be brutal in the middle of the afternoon in May, and on that day, the 90-plus degree heat caused all three VSU players to start cramping in their legs. The cramps and the fatigue set in, and Barry won the final three matches and rallied to win the Division II title.

The VSU players went home with the runner-up trophy, knowing that they had come so close to earning the first place trophy. Determined to avenge that tough loss, they spent the next 360-plus days working, practicing, training, conditioning and doing all they could to prepare themselves to make another run at a national championship. In the 2011 season, they won all but one match. They defended their Gulf South Conference championship, going undefeated in conference play. They won one of the South Region tournaments on their home court, and earned a return trip to the Division II national tournament.

At the national tournament, the Blazers beat Queens 5-1 in the first round, swept St. Edwards 5-0 in the quarterfinals, then survived a tough match with Columbus State in the semifinals, winning 5-3 and earning a return trip to the finals.

Many things were the same at the 2011 national tournament as they had been in 2010. The national tournament was held at the same location, Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs. The same two teams made the finals, Valdosta State and Barry. The Blazers had virtually the same team (five of VSU’s six singles players were the same in both years), and several of Barry’s players were also back. In both years, VSU won two of the three doubles matches.

But there were also some differences.

One of the most important differences was that the finals were moved from the afternoon to the morning. The 2010 finals began at 1 p.m., while the 2011 finals started at 9 a.m. That meant that all of the matches would likely be completed before the hottest part of the day — and likely before the brutal heat could cause legs to start cramping.

Also, Valdosta State came to Altamonte Springs with arguably a stronger team. The team’s No. 6 player from 2010 (Michael Kuech) had graduated, and had been replaced in the lineup by freshman Luis Loeffler, who was the team’s No. 4 player in 2011. The team had also added another freshman, Bernhard Wallner. Furthermore, all of the returning Blazers had another year of experience under their belts.

In the 2010 finals, the Blazers had gone 4-0 in the matches played by All-Americans Pakebusch and Daniel Dueren and 0-5 in the other matches. In the 2011 finals, five different Valdosta State players won matches. This time, Pakebusch and Dueren wound up being the two players whose matches didn’t get finished before the Blazers won the championship.

The Blazers started the finals by winning two of the three doubles matches. Their top doubles team, Dueren and Christian Hansen, won the first five games of their match, built leads of 5-0 and 7-1 and won their match 8-3 over Emanuel Fraitzl and Max Wimmer. Their No. 2 team, Pakebusch and Loeffler, won seven straight games and built a 7-1 lead, on their way to an 8-2 win over Barry’s Marco Mokrzycki and Quentin Vachez.

With a 2-1 lead, Valdosta State only needed to win three singles matches to win the national championship. But it wouldn’t be easy. Barry’s Romain Costamagna tied the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles, and the first sets of four of the other five matches were decided by tiebreakers. VSU won three of those tiebreakers.

Valdosta State’s Konstantin Kutschenko had not lost at No. 5 singles since the previous year’s finals, and he didn’t lose on this day, either. After winning his first-set tiebreaker against Ollie Lemaitre, Kutschenko dominated the second set, winning the first four games on his way to a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory.

Christian Hansen battled through a tough first set and won the tiebreaker 7-4 over Mokrzycki. Early in the second set, Hansen broke Mokrzycki’s serve. After that break, he held serve the rest of the match, and won 6-4. Just like in 2010, the Blazers had a 4-2 lead, and only needed to win one more match to become national champions.

This time, there would be no Barry rally.

About two or three minutes after Christian Hansen won his match, Loeffler reached match point against Vachez at No. 4 singles. On match point, Vachez tried to hit a return, and Loeffler watched it sail wide for the final point. Loeffler was victorious (7-6, 6-3) — and the Blazers were the national champions.

Immediately after the match was over, Loeffler’s teammates rushed onto the court to celebrate. A dogpile ensued on the court, and the Blazers spent several minutes celebrating their championship. After Coach Hansen’s interview with a television station was done, the players dumped a cooler of water on him. Then they celebrated with the large contingent of fans that had traveled over 200 miles from Valdosta to cheer them on.

During the trophy presentation, VSU graduate assistant coach Tobias Fimmel was chosen to introduce the team. While Pakebusch is the Blazers’ actual No. 1 singles player, Fimmel introduced every player as VSU’s No. 1 player, which was fitting, because, as their coach later said, all of them played a part in the team’s national championship.

“We had a great team,” Coach Hansen said.

Most of the players hung around the Orlando area that night, and celebrated their national championship. They had been waiting a full year to celebrate, and on that Saturday night, they had good reason to do so.