SURPRISE, Ariz. - The Buccaneers seem to be right at home here.
"We like this place," Barry University men's tennis coach George Samuel said.
No. 2 Barry beat No. 1 Hawai'i Pacific, 5-3, to win the NCAA Division II National Championship Saturday at Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. It marked the second time in three years the Buccaneers (26-0) won it all in Surprise.
"This is a special place for me," Barry senior Fabian Groetsch said.
It is the Buccaneers third national title in program history, and the school's 14th overall. It also marks the second time in school history a men's tennis team has gone unbeaten to win the national championship, matching the 2013 team, which went 29-0. Barry's men's tennis is the only program in school history to put together a perfect season.
"This is history here," Samuel said.
Barry's No. 2-ranked doubles team of Ahmed Triki and Groetsch beat No. 1 Thibaud Berland and Yann Renault, 8-4, at the No. 1 position. Franco Echenique and Renato Lombardi had seven match points before putting away Clemens Graute and Jaume Martinez-Vich, 8-6, at No. 3.
Lombardi defeated Graute, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6 singles. Dominik Haider was a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Jakub Hadrava at No. 5. Nico Dreer pulled out a third-set comeback to beat 15th-ranked Martinez-Vich, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, at No. 3 to wrap up the title. Dreer had match point in the second set, but Martinez-Vich rattled off five straight games to send it to a third set. Dreer trailed 5-2 in the third set, but echoed his cramping opponent with five straight wins of his own to seal the title.
Groetsch and Triki finished the season with a 23-1 record, and likely will finish the season as the No. 1 team in the country. That will mark the second time in Groetsch's career he will finish the season as part of the country's top-ranked doubles team.
"Yeah, but I don't care about that," said Groetsch, who went out a champion for the second time in his final match with Barry. "All I care about is the national championship."
On another special Saturday in Surprise, he and the Buccaneers had a trophy to call their own.