Azusa Pacific had a perfect season going up until they crossed the Sharks of Hawaii Pacific. Two of the best NCAA Division II programs were neck-and-neck throughout the evening, it could have been anyone's match but at the end, the Cougars came up on the short end of a 5-4 desicion. 
 
The 13th ranked Cougars left everything on the court but it was not enough to sink the defending national champions. Azusa Pacific set the tone for what was to come of the evening with two loud wins in doubles to take the lead 2-1.

Results
 
The pairing of Christian Schmid and Shephard Newcomb started the Cougars off with the first win of the evening beating their opponents 8-6. As teammates Oliver Frank and Pascal Engel registered the second doubles win 9-8 (7-3), to give the Cougars their 2-1 lead entering singles.

The score bounced back-and-forth as the top ranked Sharks won the first singles off the court match tying the team match up 2-2 at the conclusion of the No. 4 singles match. Not long after the Sharks win came Frank with his own victory (6-2, 6-2) at the No. 1 singles slot. The Cougars recorded back-to-back singles successes as Newcomb took down his opponent 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 singles.

Staying in dramatic fashion the Sharks tightened the score winning 7-5, 6-0 in the No. 3 slot. Trailing by one the Sharks tied things up again with a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 win at the No. 6 singles spot. It came down to the No. 2 slot battling it out for the win ending the evening under the lights putting on a show going 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) ending in a Shark victory and the first loss of the season for the Cougars.
 
Azusa Pacific, whose record now stands at 6-1, will return to the court tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. against Westmont College.