SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- There are no easy men’s tennis matches in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Eight of 9 GSAC members are ranked in the NAIA’s Top 25, and No. 5-ranked Azusa Pacific found out why Tuesday afternoon, as No. 25 Westmont pushed 4 of the singles matches to 3 sets before the Cougars eventually posted the 7-2 win.
Azusa Pacific picked up 3 valuable points with a sweep of all 3 doubles matches, with the closest an 8-5 win at No. 2 doubles for the freshman tandem of Janosch Apelt and Jack Zapala. Apelt quickly pushed the Cougar lead in the dual match to 4-0 with his 6-2, 6-1 singles victory at the No. 4 spot in the lineup, but Westmont’s Bryan Cox led Azusa Pacific junior Mathias Weber at No. 2 by a 6-3, 2-0 margin when Weber retired from the match due to injury.
The rest of the singles went to 3 sets, with Cougar sophomore Daniel Moore clinching the Azusa Pacific team victory with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win at the No. 5 position. Junior Matthijs Bolsius led 3-1 in the third set at No. 1 when Westmont’s Hans Mattias Neuman retired, and with darkness closing in, freshman Whitman Hough won a tiebreaker, 7-2, to break a third-set 4-4 tie at No. 6.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 3-1 overall, 2-1 in GSAC play. The Cougars return home to their brand-new on-campus home to host No. 6-ranked Vanguard, their third NAIA Top 12-ranked program of the season, on Thursday, Feb,. 26, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex.
SINGLES
1. Matthijs Bolsius (APU) def. Hans Mattias Neuman (WC); 6-4, 3-6, 3-1 (ret.)
2. Bryan Cox (WC) def. Mathias Weber (APU); 6-3, 2-0 (ret.)
3. Aaron Cooke (WC) def. Ronald Chow (APU); 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Janosch Apelt (APU) def. Ryley Schultz (WC); 6-2, 6-1
5. Daniel Moore (APU) def. Kent Stormans (WC); 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
6. Whitman Hough (APU) def. Arthur Kalayjian (WC); 4-6, 6-3, 4-4 (7-2)
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5*, 1, 3, 6 (*=clinching match)
DOUBLES
1. Bolsius/Weber (APU) def. Cox/Neuman (WC); 8-3
2. Jack Zapala/Apelt (APU) def. Kalayjian/Schultz (WC); 8-5
3. Chow/Moore (APU) def. Cooke/Stormans (WC); 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
