SURPRISE, Ariz. – Two-time PacWest Player of the Year Elias Emilio Walter avenged his lone defeat to a PacWest opponent this season by taking out the PacWest Newcomer of the Year Jaime Paquet to lead Azusa Pacific to a 4-0 victory over Hawai`i Hilo in the PacWest Championships quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.
 
There was no changing of the guard on center court at the Surprise facility as two of the conference's best players faced each other in a highly-anticipated battle. Walter defeated his younger rival 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 singles to prove why he deserved to receive the PacWest's highest honor for the second year in a row.
 
As a team, the No. 1-seeded Cougars were in control throughout the match, putting together an impressive start to their bid for the PacWest Slam. They are now into the semifinals where they will face No. 4 seed Hawai`i Pacific, which won 4-3 against No. 5 seed Fresno Pacific in the quarterfinals.
 
Azusa Pacific is now 21-2 on the season, while No. 8 seed Hawai`i Hilo drops to 7-11. The Cougars now have a 10-match winning streak at the conference championships, which is the second-longest streak in PacWest history. The Cougars also tied Hawai`i Pacific for the most wins in tournament history with their 26th.
 
Walter made history of his own tying his former teammate Leyton Bohren for most singles wins by a Cougar at the PacWest Championships with his sixth. He got off to a slow start in the match down 0-2 and facing two more break points, but he quickly turned the match around.
 
In the middle of the wind on the show court, Walter kept pounding groundstrokes into Paquet's backhand corner. The depth and weight of his shots put pressure on the Vulcans' No. 1 player, who had won the previous meeting during the regular season in three sets. Walter quickly turned the match around, saving both break points before winning seven games in a row. From that point, he never looked back as he earned the straight-set win.
 
In doubles, Miha Velicki and Joan Crespo won 6-2 at No. 3 doubles. Brody Bohren and David James Brownlee were tied at 4-all when Walter and Soeren Grandke closed out the doubles action with a 6-3 win at the top spot.
 
Crespo rushed out of the gates in singles to earn a 6-0, 5-0 lead. He went on to take the match 6-0, 6-2 in exactly an hour to make the score 2-0. Walter's win then made the score 3-0. It was Walter's 70^th career singles win, making him the ninth player in Cougar history to reach the milestone.
 
Velicki, Brownlee and Grandke all led their matches by a set and a break, but it was Velicki who was the first to complete his win. He defeated Agustin Gentile 6-1, 6-2 for his 51^st career singles victory, surpassing Patrick Kur for 19th most on the all-time list.
 
The Cougars now have an 11-match winning streak which will next be tested by Hawai`i Pacific on Friday at 1 p.m. Hawai`i Pacific and Azusa Pacific have faced each other seven times in the PacWest championship match. This is the first time that the two most successful teams in conference history have ever faced each other in the semifinal round.