LA MIRADA, Calif. – No. 12 Azusa Pacific went on the road to take on No. 19 Biola in a rivalry match on Saturday, and it was the Cougars that would emerge with the hard-fought 4-3 victory. 

To open the match, the Cougars' No. 2 doubles pairing of Sam Sippel and Elias Emilio Walter took control of their opponents, Callen Hein & Tomas Gomez, for the 6-2 victory. Over in the No. 1 matchup, Ryan Nuno and Leyton Bohren stepped up to clinch the doubles point for Azusa Pacific, defeating Alexei Prokopchuk and Antonio Varona by a 6-4 score. 

Biola would tie the match score at 1-1, off of a straight-set singles win by Prokopchuk (6-2, 6-2) at No. 2. On court #5, Miha Velicki put the Cougars back in front, as he cruised past Isaac Cordova with relative ease, winning 6-0, 6-1. The see-saw battle would continue in singles, with Sebastian Herrera winning for Biola at No. 1 (6-4, 6-4), followed by Leyton Bohren putting the Cougars back in front with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 4 over Tomas Gomez. Up 3-2, Azusa Pacific needed a win on one of the two courts that were still playing.

The match-clinching performance came from Walter at No. 3, where he won in straight-sets for the fourth time this season, defeating Varona 6-4, 6-3. 

With the win, Azusa Pacific is now 23-0 all-time against Biola.