LA MIRADA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific earned its 30th-consecutive win against PacWest opponents on Thursday, defeating Biola 5-2 with five straight-set singles wins at the Biola Tennis Center, coming back after dropping the doubles point to earn a season sweep over rival Biola.
Dropping the doubles point proved not to be an issue for the No. 6 Cougars, who went on to win five straight-set matches without dropping more than four games in any set to come back for the win.
David James Brownlee clinched the win at No. 4 singles with his 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
With the win, Azusa Pacific, which was ranked No. 1 in the first installment of PacWest weekly rankings for seeding purposes at the PacWest Championships, improves to 14-3 on the season. The Cougars have a four-match winning streak against all opponents to go with the 30-match win streak against teams within the PacWest.
The Cougars now have the second-longest winning streak over PacWest opponents in conference history, trailing only Hawai`i Pacific which went 43-0 over five seasons in 2013-17.
Biola, which is ranked No. 7 in the PacWest, drops to 6-8 after earning a pair of wins over nationally-ranked opponents in the last two weeks. The Eagles finish the regular season with four more home matches, likely needing to win just one of those four to ensure a berth into the PacWest Championships.
The Eagles made an impressive start to the match in doubles as the Cougars adjusted to playing on the road for the first time in over a month. Azusa Pacific took the first set with
Joan Crespo and
Miha Velicki winning at No. 3 doubles, 6-3. The duo has now won four sets in a row at the No. 3 position.
In the end, that was as close as the Cougars got to the doubles point. Biola led 4-3 in each of the top-2 doubles sets. Patricio Larrea and Santiago Serralonga won the final two games at No. 2 doubles and took the set, 6-3. The Cougars' No. 1 doubles team entered the match with a six-match winning streak and a win over the No. 1 team in the nation. However, Alejandro Flores and Jules Zanarelli stepped up to the challenge and took out the No. 20 team in the nation, 6-3, coming back from down an early break to clinch eh doubles point.
The setback in doubles didn't carry over to singles though. Azusa Pacific was dominant in singles with
Soeren Grandke setting the pace at No. 2 singles. The PacWest leader in singles wins earned his 15
th with a 6-3, 6-0 win in just 71 minutes to even the overall score.
On the three southern courts at the Biola Tennis Center, the Cougars were in full control.
Brody Bohren won his first set 6-3, while Brownlee and
Joan Crespo each won theirs 6-4. The trio went on to all win in straight sets. Bohren's 6-3, 6-4 win is his fourth in a row, which equals Grandke for the team's longest active singles winning streak.
At No. 1 singles,
Elias Emilio Walter made quick work of a tough opponent. Flores entered the match with an 8-4 record at No. 1 and was coming off a straight-sets win over the No. 36 player in the nation according to the latest ITA rankings. However, Walter went on a run, winning 11 of 13 games at one point and won the match 6-2, 6-2. Walter is now 10-2 on the season becoming the fourth Cougar to reach double-digit singles wins this season.
Walter now has 63 career singles wins, which ties him with Biola's current head coach David Goodman for the 13th-most wins in Azusa Pacific history. Walter is now just one win behind Jakob Schnaitter, who is the current No. 70 doubles player in the world. Walter is in fourth place for most wins in the PacWest era with fellow Germans, Jan Meyer and Christian Schmid, joining Schnaitter as the only players ahead of Walter in the PacWest era.
Biola's Jules Zanarelli continued his strong form. He won the final match of the day at No. 3 singles 7-5, 7-5, mounting an impressive comeback in the second set for his fifth win in six matches.
Azusa Pacific returns home on short rest on Friday to host Arizona Christian at 2:30 p.m., and then will play its third match in as many days on Saturday against Westmont at 2 p.m.
