RIVERSIDE -- Azusa Pacific earned its fourth win in a row and first this season against a NCAA Division I opponent, beating UC Riverside 4-0 on the road on Monday afternoon.
It is the Cougars' first win over a Division I opponent since beating Lehigh 7-2 in 2017. Azusa Pacific improves to 6-1 on the season, while the Highlanders drop to 2-5.
The Cougars dominated all three sets of doubles, starting with the No. 1 pairing of
Eleonora Liga and
Madison Kane, who are ranked No. 3 in the nation. They improved to 5-1 on the season with their 6-1 win.
April Wong and
Miruna Tudor clinched the doubles point at No. 2 with a 6-2 victory, finishing right before
Katia Betancourt and
Katherine Nguyen, who led comfortably 5-2 at No. 3 doubles.
The lead quickly became 2-0 when Liga earned a victory by retirement with a 3-0 lead. The Cougars went on to win the first set in three of the five remaining matches.
Tudor brought the Cougars within a point of victory with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles. Tudor, who joined the team as a graduate student transfer, has now won five matches in a row in singles.
However, the team's longest singles winning streak belongs to the player who clinched the 4-0 victory. Nguyen remained undefeated in singles this spring with her sixth win in a row. She defeated Sydney Tran 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 singles.
Madison Kane and
April Wong both dropped their opening sets at No. 2 and 3 singles, respectively. However, both players came back to win the second set and force a deciding set, but the matches were left unfinished.
Vini Bautista also had her match left unfinished despite being on the brink of victory. The Cougars' No. 4 singles player was a game away from victory with a 6-3, 5-2 lead in what would have been her third win in a row.
The Cougars' busy February schedule will come to a conclusion on Wednesday at home against Biola, which has been a contender for the NCAA West Regional during each of the last two seasons. The first serve for that match is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the Cougar Tennis Complex.
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