AZUSA, Calif. -- Jan Meyer and Christian Schmid improved their perfect record at No. 1 doubles to 5-0 despite facing three match points, coming back for a 9-7 victory to lead Azusa Pacific to a 9-0 win over Westmont at the Cougar Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon.
Match Results
The Cougars did not drop a single set in the victory over the No. 15 team in the NAIA, meaning the Cougars have won all 27 sets played against Golden State Athletic Conference opponents this season.
Meyer and Schmid trailed 2-5 at No. 1 doubles against Carl-Phil Lindqvist and Travis Kimsey, which is the 17th-ranked doubles pair in the NAIA. However, the Cougars' top doubles team got the match back on serve at 5-6.
The Warriors broke again to earn the chance to serve for the match at 7-5, but the Cougars won four games in a row to win the set. Meyer faced three set points on his serve a 6-7 after getting the break right back the game before. He saved the third of those match points with an ace, narrowly preserving the pair's unblemished record.
Meyer also maintained his perfect record in singles, winning his third match this season 6-2, 6-4 against Lindqvist, who is the No. 22 player in the nation for the NAIA. Meyer improves his winning streak to 21 matches, which is the longest of his career after he won his first 20 contests in a Cougar uniform. The win also gives Meyer 83 singles victories in his career to surpass Tom Jelsma for the second most in program history.
Alan Leahy also continued a perfect singles record in 2016 with his fifth consecutive win, defeating No. 37 Christian Mathis at No. 3 singles, 6-4, 6-1. Leahy's five wins is the most of any player on the team.
Olger van Gent and Shepherd Newcomb won their doubles match 8-5 to give the Cougars their first point of the match, and after the win at No. 1 doubles, Marnix Pluim and Pascal Engel completed the sweep with a 9-7 win in the No. 3 doubles slot.
On the season, Azusa Pacific is 13-2 in doubles for a .866 winning percentage. The last time the Cougars had a higher season winning percentage in doubles was in 2004, when the Cougars went 86-13 overall on their way to the NAIA National Championship match.
At No. 2 singles, Schmid was the first Cougar to get a win in singles, winning 6-2, 6-0. Van Gent secured the victory just minutes later at No. 5 singles with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Engel and Newcomb each added straight-set victories of their own as well, winning 6-2, 6-3 and 6-0, 6-3 respectively.
Azusa Pacific gets right back to action on Saturday with its first match against a Pacific West Conference opponent, playing Point Loma at 11 a.m. at the Cougar Tennis Complex. The Sea Lions ranked fifth in the West Region in the preseason poll.
