SURPRISE, Ariz. - Azusa Pacific is now the two-time defending PacWest Champion, following the Cougars 4-3 victory over top-seed Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday afternoon in the PacWest Championship match. Last season, the Cougars won their first PacWest title in program history, and their opponent in the conference final was Hawai'i Pacific, whom they defeated by the same 4-3 tally.

The Cougars have now won three conference titles in program history, as Azusa Pacific won the GSAC crown in 2000, in addition to its back-to-back PacWest championships in 2021 & 2022.

Eleonora Liga & Madison Kane, the Cougars All-PacWest First Team duo, started the match off strong, taking the first three games of the No. 1 doubles matchup. While the Sharks took game four, Liga & Kane would take the next three games for the 6-1 win. A few minutes later, April Wong & Audrey Stewart clinched the doubles point for the Cougars with a 6-2 win at No. 3. 

Hawai'i Pacific's Elodie Busson tied the match at 1-1 with a straight-set win at No. 1 to open singles, but Katherine Nguyen grabbed the lead back for the Cougars at No. 6. Nguyen had an early break in the third game of set one to ultimately win 6-4, and then she broke her opponent in the third game once again in set two that started a five-game win streak that resulted in a 6-1 victory.

The Sharks would even the match score at 2-2 on court No. 5 with a 7-5, 6-4 win.

Carolyn Brooner delivered a huge straight set win at No. 4 over Valentine Mokrova to put the Cougars back ahead 3-2. After taking the first set 6-3, Brooner fell behind 0-2 after Mokrova held serve in game one and then broke Brooner in game two. Brooner would respond with a break of her own in the third game, and then she held serve to knot the game score at 2-2, but Mokrova would once again hold serve and then break Brooner to go back up 4-2. Despite the momentum lying with Mokrova, Brooner would battle back by breaking Mokrova in the seventh and ninth games while holding serve in the eighth to take her first lead of the set at 5-4. The drama would continue, however, as Mokrova earned a break in the 10th game to make it 5-5, but Brooner would pick up a break in the 11th game to take a 6-5 advantage with service in the 12th. Brooner would shut the door on Mokrova, scoring four straight points to win the set 7-5 and secure the straight set victory.

After a three set win for the Sharks at No. 2 made it 3-3 overall, all eyes turned to the No. 3 matchup between Wong and Mihoki Miyahara, where they battled to a third set. Miyahara cruised to a 6-1 win in the first, but Wong took the second 6-4 to force a third set to decide the PacWest title. Wong rose to the occasion with a championship on the line, taking the first five games for a 5-0 set lead. While Miyahara earned a win in the sixth game, Wong clinched the Cougars second consecutive PacWest championship with a break in the seventh game to win the set 6-1. Wong was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament in the postmatch ceremony.

COUGARS CELEBRATE BACK-TO-BACK PACWEST TITLES


Up Next: The NCAA Regionals will be up next for the Cougars, as they await their seeding and location of the Regional match. Azusa Pacific will make a regional appearance for the fourth-consecutive year, dating back to the 2018 season. The selection show will be Tuesday, May 3 at 5:30 pm (PT) on NCAA.com. Stay tuned to APUCougars.com for more information regarding regionals.