PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. -- Azusa Pacific’s quest for its first-ever NAIA tennis championship got off to a rousing start today as the top-seed Cougars cruised past the NAIA’s No. 19-ranked Aquinas (Mich.), 5-0, in the second round of the 2003 NAIA Men’s Tennis National Championship in Peachtree City, Ga.

The Cougars, who are ranked No. 1 in the NAIA and making their seventh consecutive NAIA Tournament appearance, cruised to the easy win after sweeping all 3 doubles’ matches.

After the Cougars swept the doubles’ matches, Sam Fletcher closed out Nathaniel Price (6-0, 6-1) to remain unbeaten in match-play at No. 1, and Cole Billings knocked off Roger Lourido (6-0, 6-2) at No. 6 to give the Cougars the necessary 5 points to wrap up the match. The Cougars were handily winning 2 of the remaining 4 singles’ matches, while the other 2 were headed for the wire.

The win puts the Cougars into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight year, but the Cougars have yet to advance past the quarterfinals in 3 previous trips.

With the win, the NAIA’s top-ranked Cougars improve to 23-6 overall. Aquinas falls to 20-7.

Azusa Pacific will meet Berry (Ga.) in tomorrow’s quarterfinals at 6 a.m. (PST). The ninth-seed Vikings (21-5 overall) knocked off eight-seed Northwood (Fla.), 7-2, in the second round. Berry also defeated Sioux Falls (S.D.), 5-0, in the opening round.

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Singles
1 - Sam Fletcher (APU) d. Nathaniel Price (AC), 6-0, 6-1
2 - Boris Bakalov (APU) vs. Matthew Garner (AC), 6-6 (3-2) â€" DNF
3 - Jason Walsh (AC) vs. Adam Davidson (APU), 7-5, 1-2 â€" DNF
4 - Gordon Hong (APU) vs. Jason Winegar (AC), 6-4, 4-2 â€" DNF
5 - Thomas Jelsma (APU) vs. Jared Flick (AC), 6-1, 4-3 â€" DNF
6 - Cole Billings (APU) d. Roger Lourido (AC), 6-0, 6-2

Doubles
1 - Fletcher/Davidson (APU) d. Price/Wineger (AC), 8-6
2 - Bakalov/Jelsma (APU) d. Walsh/Flick (AC), 8-5
3 - Billings/Hong (APU) d. Garner/Brian Ahmedani (AC), 8-5