AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific has now won 14 team points in a row after sweeping two matches in as many days, beating Westmont 7-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex with just one set match dropped in the entire match.
 
Four of the singles matches were won with four or less games lost as the Cougars cruised to another sweep. The Cougars now have a 13-match winning streak against the Warriors over the last 13 years.
 
"It's a mark of a really good team when they are able to take every match seriously and not have let ups regardless of who we are playing," Max Schmidhauser said about the win. "We were very professional today, and we respect every opponent we face, taking the challenge seriously."
 
Azusa Pacific improves to 16-3 on the season while Westmont falls to 2-13. The Cougars' winning streak against PacWest opponents moves to 31 going into the final stretch of the regular season.
 
The Cougars' top-2 doubles teams won simultaneously by the same score, 6-2, to clinch the doubles point. That momentum carried into singles with Soeren Grandke winning his match in less than 50 minutes, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
 
"We switched our doubles lineup in the middle of the season, and I've seen the teams develop with their new partners," Schmidhauser said. "They're all growing in terms of teamwork and comradery. I think we keep on getting stronger with doubles which is super important."
 
Miha Velicki also won his match in less than an hour, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Then Elias Emilio Walter clinched the match at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-2. At No. 4 singles, David James Brownlee came through a tough match missing a match point in the second set before bouncing back to win 6-1, 5-7, 10-6. Joan Crespo handled the aggressive net play of Owen Vander Ark well in his 7-6(3), 6-4 win at No. 5 singles.
 
Schmidhauser was the fourth player to win his match with no more than four games lost, winning 6-2, 6-1 against local talent Sidharth Maharana.
 
"I was hoping to get a rematch of my first loss against Westmont," Schmidhauser said remembering his first career loss against Vander Ark 7-6(4), 6-3. "I was ready to play anyone though, and I was just excited to get on court and compete really hard."
 
Schmidhauser picked up his seventh win of the season, improving to 7-2. He has now won three matches in a row for the Cougars.
 
Schmidhauser made his return to tennis last season. After dominating the Rhode Island high school tennis while playing as a junior, Schmidhauser stepped away from tennis. Instead, he became an NCAA Division I track athlete at TCU.
 
After transferring to Boston and stepping away from college athletics altogether, Schmidhauser decided to take up tennis again in 2023 and began competing as a Cougar in 2024.
 
"College tennis is really special and it's nothing like junior tennis," Schmidhauser said. "I fell out of love with tennis because it felt very individual, and it was challenging not having teammates. Coming to college tennis and having teammates has been a life-changing experience, particularly being part of something greater than myself. In junior tennis, it's all about you. In college I don't even play every match but each one is more important than any junior tennis match I ever played."
 
His return to tennis in the 2024 season for Azusa Pacific saw him go 7-0 in singles, and he has duplicated that success this season, reaching seven wins once again already.
 
"I knew that I wanted to be involved in competition, but I didn't have the best experience with track in college," Schmidhauser added. I started playing tennis just casually, but I was surprised that I was doing better than I thought I would. Tennis is one of those sports where it never leaves you. When I picked up the racket again and played one tournament, I probably lost badly, but I had a lot of fun. I began to wonder why I ever quit."
 
The second phase of Schmidhauser's tennis career continues as the Cougars seek a fourth-consecutive PacWest title in April. Azusa Pacific currently holds the No. 1 ranking in the PacWest leading up to the seeding announcement for April's tournament. The Cougars will face the No. 2 team in the conference, Concordia, on April 1 at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex at 1:30 p.m.