AZUSA, Calif. –
Tina Moser saved a match point under the lights at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex and then won four games in a row to clinch a 4-3 victory for Azusa Pacific over Concordia despite the Cougars being down to just five singles players on the evening of April Fools' Day.
Moser won the match on a deep backhand cross court to draw an error from Alicia Da Re at 8:31 p.m., marking the latest finish to a match ever at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex. It was the freshman's first time being the last player on court in a match tied 3-all, and she rose to the occasion to lift the Cougars to the victory.
Moser won the opening set in a tiebreaker, but Da Re gave the Golden Eagles a chance for victory by taking the second set 6-4. In the final set, Moser drew blood first, getting a break to go ahead 3-1 with all other matches completed.
Da Re turned the match around by winning four games in a row. Concordia's senior earned a match point at 5-3, deuce, when Moser missed a volley at the net. However, she remained aggressive on match point and came to net again. This time, she made no mistake putting away the forehand volley to get back on serve.
"That volley she hit on match point was incredible," head coach Mark Bohren said. "For her as a freshman against a senior, after having just missed a volley, to have the courage to come to net again was amazing. You don't typically see that from freshmen, but the freshmen on this team have proved that they're not typical freshmen."
Moser saved the match point, but there was still a lot of work to be done in the all Swiss battle. Da Re still had a chance to serve out the match.
"I was so nervous because I was up 3-1 but she kept playing better and better," Moser said. "She had match point, but I knew I wasn't going to lose the match. I just believed in myself and played fearless."
Moser then broke Da Re's serve to get to 5-all as the No. 4 singles match was approaching the three-hour mark.
"Coach [Bohren] was a really big help," Moser said. "He told me to keep playing aggressive, because she was getting everything back. When I was serving, I knew I had to go for my first serve and stay aggressive and hit winners and approach the net. When she was serving, I was more trying to work the point and they were long rallies. For a match with no-ad scoring to go almost three hours is something that I've never been a part of before."
Moser held at deuce in the 5-all game and then Da Re served to stay in the match. Moser earned a match point at deuce, making it the third of four games to go to deuce. On her own match point, at the end of a nine-ball rally, Moser forced an error and clinched the win for the Cougars.
"When Julia came out, I knew it was going to be really really tough," Moser said, with the Cougars needing to win four of five singles matches to hold off their nationally-ranked opponent. "But I still believed in my teammates. Karola and Shannele both had big wins. Then Katherine had a huge win that was crazy. That left just me, and it was my first time being in that position."
With the win, No. 17 Azusa Pacific is now 15-2 on the season with a seven-match winning streak, having completed a season sweep of the Golden Eagles. No. 46 Concordia drops to 12-8 with the loss. Azusa Pacific has now won 30 matches in a row against Concordia, which includes a
similar win under the lights in 2016 that Lisa Schnieder clinched after saving match points.
In doubles,
Shannele Lopez and Moser won at No. 3 doubles, 6-0, but the Golden Eagles won the other two matches. Bryn Johnson and Sophie Rachor won 6-4 at No. 1 doubles, and then Da Re won with Jessica Bear 7-5 at No. 2 doubles to take a 1-0 lead.
In singles,
Julia Jordan had to be taken out of the lineup, meaning the Cougars had to forfeit No. 6 singles and that every player was moved up in the lineup two spots. With a 2-0 deficit, the Cougars had little room for error, but they got off to a strong start in singles.
Four players won their first set and Lopez finished her match quickly with a 6-2, 6-3 win. It was a rematch for Lopez against Pia Starnecker. The first meeting was left unfinished after they split the first two sets, but Lopez didn't leave the result in doubt this time, picking up her second win of the day.
Shortly after that Rachor, who has earned some big wins in her career, added another by beating the reigning PacWest Player of the Week
Stina Larsson, 6-4, 6-4. That gave Concordia a 3-1 lead, but the Cougars led in all three remaining matches.
Karola Suviste picked up arguably her most impressive result so far this season, beating Concordia's No. 3 Bear 6-4, 7-5. Suviste, who beat Da Re in the first meeting between the two teams, is now tied with Larsson for the most singles wins in the PacWest this season.
That left just
Katherine Nguyen and Moser on court with the Cougars needing to win both. Nguyen battled on court for over two hours against Johnson, putting together a stunning win, 7-6(4), 7-6(8). Nguyen saved set points in both sets to win both tiebreakers and take the match in straight sets. It was only her second time playing No. 2 singles in her career and she is now 2-0 at that position and 3-0 in tiebreakers.
"When I was on my break, I was watching Katherine," Moser said, "and the points I saw were unbelievable, because Bryn is an insane player. She's so good. It was a great win for Katherine and I'm so proud of her."
That made the overall score 3-all. Concordia's men's tennis team was still on the grounds to catch the end of the women's match, creating a unique atmosphere under the lights of the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex. With the match on her racket, Moser pushed the Cougars to their 13th win in a row against PacWest teams.
"We knew that Concordia is a good team and that it would be hard to win doubles. Then without Julia, we had to forfeit a match. It is incredibly hard to win in that situation. So we knew we had to play our best tennis. That win was huge for us because now we really believe in each other as a team."
Azusa Pacific has another key match coming up with Point Loma coming to town on Saturday for a 3 p.m. match. Azusa Pacific and Point Loma are the top-2 teams in the PacWest rankings, fighting for the No. 1 seed in the PacWest Championships. The Sea Lions are currently riding an 11-match winning streak and Azusa Pacific is the only NCAA Division II team to beat Point Loma this year.
