AZUSA, Calif. – In one day the Cougars had their home and road season opener.
Azusa Pacific opened the season at home before heading east to close out the first Saturday of February. They ended the day with a pair of victories.
No.5 Azusa Pacific 5, Caltech 1
After some anxious moment during the doubles portion of the team, the Cougars top singles player brought calm to the upset bid.
Results
DOUBLES: Azusa Pacific dug deep to take a 2-1 lead heading into the singles portion of the match. Antonio Pejic and Roberto Luconi jumped out to an early lead at the No. 3 spot and never relented as they posted an 8-3 victory. Caltech responded a few minutes later as James Wei and Varun Shanker won 8-5 at the top doubles slot.
The real drama during doubles came at the No. 2 position. Down throughout the match, the duo of Ryan Nuno and Jesse Haas tallied from deficits of 6-4 and 7-5 to force a tiebreaker. During that breaker they continued to find themselves behind the proverbial eight-ball. The tandem responded from a 5-2 hole by winning four straight points. However, they couldn't converted three match points and Caltech rallied for a match point of their own. The Cougar combo rallied yet again before pulling out the tiebreaker 12-10.
SINGLES: Ronald Kang won the first match of the courts as the newcomer won 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 3 position in less than an hours. Alan Leahy was nearly as dominate in his straight set win in the second slot. After taking a year-off from collegiate competition, he returned in fine fashion with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
The team match was clinched by Jakob Schaitter. In his first collegiate dual match, Schaitter swept by Varun Shanker 6-3, 6-3 at the top singles spot.
No. 5 Azusa Pacific 6, Redlands 3
After a rough start in doubles, the Cougars upped their game during the singles portion of the contest.
Results
DOUBLES: The University of Redlands won all three matches in taking a seemingly commanding 3-0 lead in the team match. Joey Dulle and Brad Cummins surprised the duo of Christian Schmid and Oliver Frank at the No. 1 position 8-6. Chase Lipscomb and Baysl Libao won their match at the second slot by the same score. Cameron Krimbill and Cooper Lacetera notched an 8-5 win in the third position.
SINGLES: The Cougars completely flipped the script as they dominated in singles by winning all but one of the matches in straight sets. Frank recorded a 6-3, 6-1 win at the top slot while Schmid tallied his straight sets win 6-4, 6-2.
Schaitter got the most convincing win with a 6-3, 6-0 triumph in the third positon. Nuno came away with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at the No. 4 slot while Leahy had his fifth singles slot match go 6-3, 6-4 in his favor.
Ronald Kang battle for his victory in the final singles position. After winning the first set 6-3 he fell in the second by a 6-1 count to set-up a super tiebreaker. Kang pulled out a 10-6 win to complete the singles dominance.
