AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific pulled a rabbit out of the hat on April Fools' Day. Facing an 3-0 deficit in the ITA Match of the Week, the Cougars pulled off an improbable comeback against Concordia for a 4-3 win that was capped off by
Miha Velicki's clinching win on Tuesday afternoon at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex.
No. 20 Concordia put No. 6 Azusa Pacific's back against the wall by winning the doubles point in a decisive tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles and then won the first two singles matches. The Golden Eagles also had a lead at No. 5 singles, where Max Mueller won the first set and Adam Large led in the second set of his match.
However, the Cougars won the final four singles matches to come back for the win, keeping their winning streak against PacWest opponents alive at 32 now.
Joan Crespo came back from down a set against Mueller to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Velicki also won in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 to clinch the victory in just under three hours.
With the win, Azusa Pacific is now 17-3 on the season while Concordia drops to 13-3 with two of those losses coming to the Cougars. Azusa Pacific now has a seven-match winning streak and has confirmed its lead in the PacWest rankings by winning a battle of the top-2 teams in the conference.
Elias Emilio Walter, the reigning PacWest Player of the Week, got the comeback started for the Cougars against Felix Veyhle, winning 6-2, 6-2. He has now won 12 sets in a row without losing more than four games in the set.
Concordia dropped Spencer Cinco down to No. 2 in the lineup to face No. 27
Soeren Grandke after Grandke defeated Veyhle in the first meeting. Cinco and Grandke had the longest first set, but Grandke came through in a tiebreaker. Grandke then broke serve at 3-all in the second set and the PacWest singles wins leader went on to take the match 7-6, 6-3. Grandke is now 5-0 in singles tiebreakers this season.
The path to victory for the Golden Eagles had to go through either Crespo or Velicki, who are partners in doubles. Mueller won the first set against Crespo as Concordia won the first set at each of the matches in 4-6 singles. The Cougars would have to come back in one of those three matches in order to hold off Concordia, and Crespo got off to a strong start in his second set.
Crespo was facing Mueller, who dropped down from No. 3 in the lineup since the last meeting between the two teams. Crespo clinched the win in the last meeting, and he turned his match at No. 5 singles around in a critical way for the Cougars. He won his second set 6-3 and broke early in the third set.
At No. 3 singles, Large came back to win the second set against Velicki to put the Golden Eagles within a set of victory on two different courts. At the same time that Crespo and Grandke went up a break in their matches, Velicki also went up a break in the third set of his match, meaning all three Cougars just needed to hold serve for the rest of the match to get the win.
In the end, Crespo and Velicki did a lot more than just hold serve, dominating the deciding set in both of their matches. Crespo won at No. 5 singles, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Velicki won shortly after at No. 3 singles, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 to complete the comeback.
Azusa Pacific has now won six matches by a 4-3 decision this year. The win also means that the Cougars now have firm control of the No. 1 seed for the PacWest Championships with three matches left in the regular season and a season sweep against the No. 2 team.
In doubles,
David James Brownlee and
Brody Bohren put together a dominant performance at No. 2 with a 6-0 win. It was their first win at love as a team and their ninth win of the season. Concordia evened the doubles point by winning at No. 3 doubles.
At No. 1 doubles, the top-2 teams in the PacWest according to the ITA Rankings battled for the first point of the match. No. 18 Veyhle and Mueller faced No. 20 Walter and Grandke, and the two teams were on court for 12 minutes after the other two sets had finished. In the end, Concordia took the doubles point in a tiebreaker.
In singles, Grandke extended his lead as the PacWest player with the most singles wins, reaching a record of 18-2 on the season. Crespo picked up his 10
th win of the season, becoming the fifth Cougar to reach double digits. Velicki also improved to 12-5 on the season, while Walter moved to 13-2.
Azusa Pacific plays again on Wednesday against Menlo at 2:30 p.m. at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex. The Cougars are looking to build on their 12-2 record when playing at home this season.
