AZUSA, Calif. -- Freshman Janosch Apelt and junior Mathias Weber survived a pair of match points for a 9-7 victory at No. 2 doubles, then provided key singles victories to spur the NAIA’s No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 5-4 dual match victory over No. 5-ranked Concordia Tuesday afternoon at the Munson and Bavougian Tennis Complex. The Cougars won the top 3 singles and the top 2 doubles matches, rallying for each and every team point that was tallied.

"All of the guys stepped up today," Cougar head coach Mark Bohren said. "Overall, it was a really good win. We're a dangerous team at this point of the season, because we have the ability to win when it counts. We're starting to believe in ourselves, which is going to be very important for the upcoming national tournament."

In the No. 2 doubles match, the Apelt/Weber tandem faced a 7-5 deficit before Apelt’s tough service helped pull the Cougars to within 7-6. Concordia broke through with a pair of volley winners to serve with a 40-15 lead, but the Cougars won 4 straight points, 2 of them match points, to tie the set at 7-7.

"We were really relaxed after we got through the match points," Apelt said. "I knew it was the turning point, and it took the pressure off of us."

Apelt and Weber took 8 of the set’s final 10 points to earn a 9-7 decision. For the clinching point, Apelt fell down to his feet at the net after deflecting a tough volley, recovered, and delivered a powerful overhead slam to help send Azusa Pacific into singles play with a 2-1 lead.

Junior Ronald Chow and Daniel Moore provided the Cougars with the other doubles point. Chow and Moore tallied an 8-4 score at No. 1 doubles, recovering from an early 3-2 deficit, and Concordia rolled to an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles over junior Matthijs Bolsuis and Ilja Ikonnikov.

Apelt provided Azusa Pacific the decisive fifth team point of the match with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles, registering 94 of the match’s 178 total points. Two marathon games provided important shifts in momentum for both Apelt and Concordia’s Augusto Elias. The first marathon game provided Elias with a 6-4 opening-set win, after he scored 9 of the game’s final 16 points to edge Apelt, who battled through 5 set points in the final game before faltering the last point on a shot hit long. The second marathon game, an 18-point epic in favor of Azusa Pacific, gave Apelt a 2-0 lead in the third set.

"I was confident I would win the match when I got up 2-0," Apelt said. "It was a tough service game to get through with my opponent holding most of the deuce advantages. After that, he was done. He started double faulting and wasn't playing with the same intensity he had before. It was helpful for me to see Matthijs (Bolsius) and Mathias (Weber) winning as I was going to my third set."

Weber rallied from a 2-0 opening-set deficit in impressive fashion, taking 12 of the ensuing 13 games for his sixth consecutive singles win, a 6-2, 6-1 victory at the No. 3 position. His win pushed Azusa Pacific’s team lead to 3-1 in the dual match, and Bolsius rallied twice to commandeer his match at No. 1 singles in straight sets. Bolsius improved to 15-6 in singles play on the season with the 7-5, 6-4 victory, and his win gave the Cougars a 4-2 lead in the match.

Concordia won the lower 3 singles matches, including the concluding pair of matches decided in super tiebreakers after Azusa Pacific clinched the victory with a 5-2 dual match lead. Chow had the No. 5 singles match in his grasp with a 6-2, 3-0 lead but he tired down the stretch, handing a 2-6, 6-4, (10-0) decision to Concordia’s Tom Young.

Freshman Whitman Hough finished the dual match with a 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), (10-3) loss at No. 6 singles to Bruno Santarelli.

"It was important for us to win the last big match of the regular season so we can learn that we can win the big ones," Apelt said. "We saw that we were stronger today, and that gives us a lot of confidence for the national tournament."

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 12-12, 9-6 in GSAC, while Concordia drops to 15-5, 11-4 in GSAC. The victory returns Azusa Pacific to a .500 overall record and gives the Cougars an opportunity to ensure it will avoid a losing season with a victory over Biola in the regular-season finale next Tuesday, April 28, at the Munson and Bavougian Tennis Complex. Azusa Pacific has clinched sole possession of fourth place in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

SINGLES
1. Matthijs Bolsius (APU) def. Andrey Potapkin (CUI); 7-5, 6-4
2. Janosch Apelt (APU) def. Augusto Elias (CUI); 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
3. Mathias Weber (APU) def. Kareem Berdai (CUI); 6-2, 6-1
4. Oliver Fabre (CUI) def. Daniel Moore (APU); 6-3, 6-3
5. Tom Young (CUI) def. Ronald Chow (APU); 2-6, 6-4, (10-0)
6. Bruno Santarelli (CUI) def. Whitman Hough (APU); 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), (10-3)

Order of finish: 3, 4, 1, 2*, 5, 6
(*=clinching match)

DOUBLES
1. Chow/Moore (APU) def. Fabre/Potapkin (CUI); 8-4
2. Apelt/Weber (APU) def. Elias/Santarelli (CUI); 9-7
3. Ryan McNamara/Young (CUI) def. Bolsius/Ilja Ikonnikov (APU); 8-3

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2