Azusa Pacific travels to the PacWest Conference Tournament held at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Center in Surprise, Ariz., from April 20-22 hosted by the Academy of Art.
Bracket
Tournament Page
The Cougars are ranked 11th in the nation after concluding their regular season 17-4 overall and earning the No. 2 seed at the conference tournament. In the last three years, the Cougars have made an appearance in the championship match. Hawai'i Pacific is the defending league, and national, champion.
Azusa Pacific face No. 7 seed Point Loma in the first round of the tournament Thursday at 9:00 a.m. The two programs have faced each other twice this season, both occasions saw the Cougars come out on top by scores of 7-2 and 8-1 respectively. The Sea Lions finished the regular season on a five-match losing streak and an overall record of 4-17. No matter the outcome of the tournament opener the Cougars will return to the courts Friday, April 21 at 9:00 a.m.
The top of the line-up will prove critical to the squad's success at the event. In his first season with the Cougars,
Oliver Frank was ranked as the No. 1 singles player in Division II tennis after a successful fall. He has played in the No. 1 singles position all season and has yet to drop a singles match; holding a 19 match-winning streak. With his unflawed singles record, Frank holds the first perfect singles season in Azusa Pacific's history. Throughout his time at Azusa Pacific, Frank has beaten eight nationally ranked opponents in singles. He is currently tied for the sixth most singles wins at No. 1 position with 19.
Throughout the season Frank has been paired with
Pascal Engel,
Antonio Pejic, and Roberto Luconi. He has only dropped two doubles matches in his 19 appearances. Frank has the second highest single-season winning percentage between singles and doubles with .947 as of right now.
Christian Schmid has spent most of his two seasons with the Cougars at the No. 2 singles position where he is right behind Frank with 18 singles wins this season. In his first season with the Cougars, Schmid earned first-team All-PacWest honors and the conference's Newcomer of the Year last season. Schmid has not only seen success on the court but off where he was named to the All-PacWest academic team in 2016.
