FRESNO, Calif. -- Defending Golden State Athletic Conference men’s tennis champion Fresno Pacific passed one of its toughest remaining tests en route to its second straight conference title with Thursday’s 7-2 victory over Azusa Pacific, winner of 9 previous conference championships.
The NAIA’s No. 4-ranked Sunbirds found it more difficult to dispatch of the No. 8-ranked Cougars than in the teams’ first meeting of the year when Fresno Pacific posted an 8-1 victory in Azusa. In that March 5 matchup, Azusa Pacific scored its only point of the dual match in the final doubles match of the day. This time around, the Cougars’ No. 2 doubles tandem of freshman Janosch Apelt and junior Mathias Weber snagged an early point with an 8-6 win that sent the matchup into singles play with Fresno Pacific leading by just a 2-1 margin.
Fresno Pacific clinched the match victory with 4 consecutive straight-sets singles wins, although Weber posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Marco Foelz at No. 4 singles. After starting the season with 8 straight singles defeats, Weber has now won 7 of his past 8 individual matchups, including Thursday’s win over Foelz, who is ranked No. 38 in the NAIA’s individual singles rankings.
The loss drops Azusa Pacific back to fifth place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings, 1 win behind Vanguard. The Cougars’ record drops to 10-12 overall, 7-6 in GSAC play, while Fresno Pacific improves to 18-2 overall, 12-1 GSAC. Azusa Pacific wraps up the regular season with 3 consecutive home matches, beginning with a Saturday, April 18 contest with Hope International at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex.
SINGLES
1. Fabio Silva (FPU) def. Matthijs Bolsius (APU); 4-6, 6-2 (10-8)
2. Vicente Joli (FPU) def. Janosch Apelt (APU); 6-2, 6-3
3. Alex Gonzalez (FPU) def. Daniel Moore (APU); 6-2, 6-1
4. Mathias Weber (APU) def. Marco Foelz (FPU); 6-2, 6-3
5. Maxime Adam (FPU) def. Ronald Chow (APU); 6-0, 6-2
6. Jose Hilla (FPU) def. Whitman Hough (APU); 6-0, 6-2
Order of finish: 5, 6, 3*, 2, 4, 1
(*=clinching match)
DOUBLES
1. Gonzalez/Joli (FPU) def. Chow/Moore (APU); 8-1
2. Apelt/Weber (APU) def. Adam/Foelz (FPU); 8-6
3. Hilla/Silva (FPU) def. Bolsius/Ilja Ikonnikov (APU); 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
