AZUSA, Calif. – Normally the third match of the season doesn't hold a lot of weight for the rest of the season. Thursday's match was not normal.
In a critical early season contest between a pair of top 25 teams, Azusa Pacific prevailed 6-3 against No. 9 UC San Diego.
With just four teams from a highly competitive west region earning a trip to the NCAA Division II postseason, the No. 23 Cougars put a nice notch in the belts. While the Cougars will enjoy the win for an evening, Azusa Pacific hosts Point Loma on Saturday in another important early season match. Moreover, the Cougars travel to UC San Diego in mid-April for what will sure to be another tightly played contest.
DOUBLES: Azusa Pacific won the first match off the courts as Toby Miclat and Kara Hinton paired-up to win a back-and-forth contest 8-6 at the second position. Neither team had more than one a game edge in the match until the end. Miclat and Hinton rallied from a 5-4 deficit to win four of the last five games.
Just a few minutes later the Cougars took a 2-0 lead as Courtney Page and Mikayla Rinker notched an 8-5 victory at the third spot.
UC San Diego eeked out the top doubles match but not without a fight. The Triton duo of Becky Chou and Ashley Chao jumped out to a seemingly comfortable 5-1 edge but Petra Ivankovic and Diana Baumgartnere battled back to tie the match at 6-6. However, UC San Diego held serve then broke to clinch the match.
SINGLES: The first two matches off the courts were won in the same fashion as each squad took a team point. Miclat was precise in her dominating performance as she won 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. The Tritons got a singles win about 10 minutes later when Alexandra Weil won her match by the same score at the No. 3 slot.
The scoring trend continued as Jackie Resler put the Cougars within a win of clinching the team match with a victory at the sixth spot. The senior also won by the same score as the first two completed singles matches. UC San Diego stayed in the match as Jasmine Hosseini posted a 6-4, 6-4 win at the No. 4 slot.
April Wong clinched the team match for the Cougars with a 6-4, 7-5 win at the fifth position. The first-year won the first set solidly but had to battle back in the second. Wong found herself down 4-3 and 5-4 but won the last three games to secure the team win.
The last match on the courts was also the only match to go the distance. Petra Ivankovic won the first set 6-2 but fell in the second frame by the same score. With the team match already decided, Ivankovic won a super tiebreaker 10-8 to give the Cougars their final team point.
QUOTEABLE: "This is a long season and we will enjoy this win tonight. Hopefully this victory continues to propel this team in a good direction," said head coach Mark Bohren. "We have a team of competitors and who want to get better every day and that's what most excites me about the coming weeks."
