AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific kept everything in place and prevented Colorado Mesa from getting on the board for a 7-0 win that was tougher than the final score indicates on Thursday afternoon at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex.
 
The Cougars grabbed an early 3-0 lead but trailed by either a set or a break in each of the four remaining singles matches. However, a little bit of adversity proved not to be a problem as the Cougars earned their third-consecutive 7-0 win.
 
Azusa Pacific may have dropped to No. 18 in the ITA national rankings, but nothing about the Cougars' performance has dropped. They snapped the Mavericks five-match winning streak and are now 11-2 on the season. Azusa Pacific remains undefeated against PacWest opponents, while Colorado Mesa is now 11-9 with a 5-2 record against PacWest teams.
 
Julia Jordan and Katherine Nguyen have proved to be a dominant combination at No. 3 doubles for the Cougars, having won 12 of the 13 games they have played together after winning at love on Thursday. Then the freshman duo of Stina Larsson and Karola Suviste clinched the doubles point at the No. 1 position with a 6-2 win. Tina Moser and Shannele Lopez led their match 5-2 when play was stopped.
 
Lopez had no problems finishing her match in singles though. The junior improved to 6-0 on the season by winning both sets by that score for a double-bagel victory at No. 6 singles. She is the only player in the PacWest that remains undefeated in singles with at least three matches played this season.
 
Suviste made the overall score 3-0 with her 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles. She briefly tied her doubles partner, Larsson, for the most singles wins in the PacWest this season with 11. The duo of Larsson and Suviste also have 10 wins in 11 matches in doubles which trails only Point Loma's No. 1 doubles team, ranked No. 4 in the country.
 
With a 3-0 lead in hand, the Cougars still had a lot of work to do. The Mavericks had won the first set at No. 2 singles, and despite being down a set on courts 1, 3, and 5, Colorado Mesa was up a break in the second set on each court.
 
Jordan won her opening set 6-4 but trailed 1-5 in the second set against Makenna Livingston, who is a three-time All-PacWest honoree and has two wins over nationally-ranked opponents this season. The Cougars' veteran recovered both breaks in the second set to get back on serve and then broke again at 5-all before serving out the match, winning a total of six unanswered games to win 6-4, 7-5.
 
Jordan's fourth win in a row and third win at the No. 1 spot clinched the victory for the Cougars and shifted the momentum of the match back in favor of the Cougars.
 
Stina Larsson came back to win her second set and force a deciding set, which was played out since the match hadn't been clinched at that point. Against Devyn Rodriguez, who beat a nationally-ranked player 6-1, 6-1 earlier in the week, Larsson came from behind to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Larsson retook sole possession of the top spot among the PacWest leaders in singles wins with her 12th.
 
Moser and Nguyen both went into a third-set tiebreaker and came through to complete the sweep. Moser finished first, dominating both of her tiebreakers. She won 7-6(1), 4-6, 10-3 at No. 5 singles. Moser has only played three tiebreakers in her collegiate career, but she has now won all three.
 
The most experienced Cougar was the last to finish as Nguyen closed out her match in a super-tiebreaker. Every time Nguyen steps on court, she changes the Azusa Pacific record books, and Thursday was no different. She earned a 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 win at No. 3 singles in two hours and 11 minutes.
 
Nguyen now has 55 career singles wins, moving her up to eighth on the Cougars' all-time list. The next player on the list is Nguyen's former teammate Madison Kane who collected 62 career singles wins.
 
Azusa Pacific will face another Colorado opponent on Tuesday when MSU Denver comes to Azusa. The first serve is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.