IRVINE, Calif. -- In both singles and doubles,
April Wong and
Miruna Tudor came through tight matches to make the difference in Azusa Pacific's 5-2 win over the recently renamed Concordia Golden Eagles on Thursday at the CUI Tennis Courts.
Long after the other two doubles sets had ended, Tudor and Wong were still on court at No. 2 doubles battling for the decisive doubles point, where they came through with a 7-6(2) win. Both Cougars then went on to win three-set matches in singles to secure the team's seventh win of the season. Wong came back quickly after dropping the first set to earn a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 win, and Tudor fought through a sudden surge in form from her opponent to win 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
The Cougars handed Concordia its first loss of the season, improving to 7-2, while the Golden Eagles dropped to 2-1. Azusa Pacific now has a 22-match winning streak against Concordia dating back to 2010.
The No. 3 doubles team in the nation
Eleonora Liga and
Madison Kane won the No. 1 doubles set 6-0 to improve to 7-1 on the season. Wong and Tudor then clinched the doubles point to give the Cougars the early edge going into singles.
Liga only lost two games all day between singles and doubles, winning at the No. 1 singles position 6-2, 6-0 to complete a dominant performance on the day, improving to 8-1 in singles.
Katherine Nguyen won her match at No. 6 singles 7-6(2), 6-0 to extend her winning streak in team matches to 22 in a row. During the winning streak, she has only dropped two sets and this was only the third time that she was forced into a tiebreaker.
Wong and Tudor pushed the Cougars across the finish line with their three-set wins. Sophie Rachor got one of the two points for the Golden Eagles with her 6-3, 6-3 win over Kane at No. 2 singles. Concordia also got a 6-3, 6-4 win from veteran Tiffany Carrillo against
Vini Bautista.
Azusa Pacific returns home on Saturday to face Colorado Mesa, which is one of the four affiliate members of the PacWest in women's tennis. The Cougars are undefeated against the Mavericks since they entered the PacWest.