SURPRISE, Ariz. - No. 3 seed Azusa Pacific was tested by No. 6 seed MSU Denver, but the Cougars grinded out a 4-1 quarterfinal victory to advance to the semifinals tomorrow at the PacWest Championships. Entering this weekend, Azusa Pacific was ranked #31 in the nation by the ITA, while MSU Denver was #35.
MSU Denver captured the first victory of the day, winning the No. 3 doubles match, but the Cougars would come back with tiebreak wins at No. 1 and No. 2 to take the doubles point. At No. 1, it was a battled between ranked duos, as the Cougars'
Leyton Bohren and
Marko Nikoliuk are #37 and MSU Denver's Juho Kantola and David Kijak are #50 in the most recent ITA polls. Bohren and Nikoliuk won 7-6 (7-2), and at No. 2,
Miha Velicki and
Elias Emilio Walter clinched the doubles point with a win by the same score of 7-6 (7-2). Velicki and Walter are unbeaten in their last eight matches, and Bohren and Nikoliuk are unbeaten over their last five.
While the final score may have appeared "comfortable" for the Cougars, the match was anything but a sure thing for Azusa Pacific, as five of the six singles matches went to a third set. The lone straight-set win for either team was secured by the Cougars'
Brody Bohren at No. 6, where he beat Billy McDermott 6-4, 6-4. MSU Denver would pick up a point in the No. 3 matchup, where Alejandro Jimenez beat Walter 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.Â
Over at No. 2,
Leyton Bohren beat Kantola 6-2 in the first set, but Kantola answered back with a 6-3 win in the second. Bohren would come through for the Cougars in the third, as he won 6-4 to put the Cougars up 3-1. With three matches remaining, Azusa Pacific was in the hunt for just one more victory. That victory would come on court No. 5, as the veteran
Cole Rassner delivered for the Cougars. Rassner fell 4-6 in the first set to Carlos Pinedo, but he found his groove in the second, and went on to win the second and third sets by an identical 6-3 score to send the Cougars onto the semifinal.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific will now prepare for a semifinal match against No. 2-seed Point Loma tomorrow at 1:00 pm in Arizona. It will be the third meeting between the two teams, as they split the two regular season matches, with both teams defending their home court.
