SURPRISE, Ariz. – Azusa Pacific entered the PacWest Championships as the No. 3 seed and left as the champion, becoming the first No. 3 seed in tournament history to lift the trophy as the Cougars defeated No. 1 Hawai`i Pacific in a shutout, 4-0, on Saturday at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Club.
 
Azusa Pacific now has three PacWest titles after having also won in 2018 and 2022. The Cougars also now have 21 wins in the winners' bracket at the PacWest Championships, tying Hawai`i Pacific for the most all-time.
 
The Cougars won in under two hours with Leyton Bohren again winning the championship point for the second year in a row to win in under two hours, the fastest final in tournament history.
 
Azusa Pacific was dominant throughout, starting with a strong showing in doubles with a pair of 6-1 wins by Miha Velicki and Elias Emilio Walter at No. 2 doubles and Brody Bohren and Dylan Parsley at No. 3 doubles.
 
Despite having a marathon semifinal against Point Loma in which Leyton Bohren saved a match point to earn a 4-3 win, the Cougars were in form to start singles less than 24 hours later. They won the first set on five of the six singles courts, including Cole Rassner winning his opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6(3) at No. 5 singles.
 
The Cougars went up a break on each of the top-4 courts in the second set, while Rassner and Brody Bohren were both on serve. Azusa Pacific was well on its way to a comprehensive victory when Miha Velicki got the first singles point with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Jan Heine.
 
Last year's final came down to Leyton Bohren and Robin Sanz at No. 3 singles. This year, Sanz was at the No. 1 position to face Marko Nikoliuk, who won the opening set 7-5. He broke Sanz three times in a row, and despite giving one of the breaks back, he broke again to win the match 7-5, 6-3.
 
Leyton Bohren broke serve late in the second set to take a 5-3 lead and then served out the win, triumphing 6-4, 6-3 to clinch a shutout victory over the No. 1 seed. Bohren will go down as one of the most successful players in PacWest Championships history. He has seven singles victories at the tournament, which is the third-most trailing only Martin Soukal of Hawai`i Hilo and Benjamin Loccisano from Hawai`i Pacific, who each have eight. However, unlike Soukal and Loccisano, Bohren now has two PacWest titles to his name, clinching the title both times.
 
When the match was stopped, Brody Bohren led 6-3, 5-6 on serve in the second set, and Walter was on his way to forcing a third set, 6-2, 3-5.
 
After the tournament, Leyton Bohren was named the Tournament MVP for the second year in a row. He is the second player in tournament history to be receive that honor twice. The other one was Petr Michnev who went on to achieve the highest ATP ranking of any PacWest alum, peaking at No. 229 in the world.
 
Azusa Pacific has earned the PacWest's automatic bid into the NCAA West Regional. The Cougars were ranked No. 3 in the latest regional rankings, but after beating both teams ranked ahead of them at a neutral site, they could move up in the rankings.
 
The top-2 seeds will host the first round of the postseason with the winners advancing to the NCAA Division II National Championships in Florida.
 
Azusa Pacific now has 42 PacWest titles across all sports with five of them having been won by the two programs led by head coach Mark Bohren. He now has the 2021 and 2022 women's tennis titles as well as the 2018, 2022 and 2023 men's tennis titles. Today's win also moves Azusa Pacific into first place in the PacWest Commissioner's Cup Standings with an average score of 12.11, while Point Loma is now at 12.06 in second place.