SURPRISE, Ariz. -- After a month without playing singles, Vini Bautista returned to the top of head coach Mark Bohren's lineup, and she won in both doubles and singles to send Azusa Pacific into the PacWest Championships semifinals with a 4-0 win over Stanislaus State on Thursday morning at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.

The No. 1-seeded Cougars earned their second sweep this season of No. 9 seed Stanislaus State. In fact, the Cougars didn't drop a single set on their way back to the semifinals for the seventh year in a row.
 
Bautista both started and finished the victory. Her 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles alongside Julia Jordan was the first of 11 sets the Cougars won on the day. Then she clinched the quarterfinal match with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles against Alyssa Tay.
 
"I was very nervous going out there because it has been over a month since I've been able to compete in singles," Bautista said. "Coach [Bohren] was preparing me, because I felt the pressure of playing at No. 1 after being away for a while. Julia pulled me through doubles. She was helping me with my nerves and allowing me to ease my way back into the game."
 
The last time Bautista played singles was also against the Warriors, and just like in the last meeting, Bautista won in straight sets with just four games dropped. Jordan and Stina Larsson earned the Cougars' other two singles wins with each winning 6-0, 6-1, making a strong impression at the start of the 2025 PacWest Championships.
 
"For singles, all the girls are playing solid," Bautista said.  "I had Tina [Moser] with me on court which was a big help. I wasn't playing the best at first, but I got the cob webs off after the first set. I thank the girls a lot because without them there'd be no way I could pull it off on my own."
 
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 19-2 on the season and returns to the conference semifinals, where the Cougars will face No. 5 seed Biola. The Eagles won 4-1 against No. 4 seed Dominican to earn their spot in the penultimate round. Stanislaus State drops to 12-7 on the season and will get a rematch against Dominican on Thursday morning in the consolation bracket.
 
The Cougars first reached the semifinal stage of the PacWest Championships in 2018, and since then they have not failed to return every year that the tournament has been held. Thursday's victory is the 20^th at the PacWest Championships in program history, which is the fourth most in the PacWest.
 
"It's really exciting to be back in Surprise, because it has been my goal to be ready for PacWest," Bautista said. "I'm glad I was able to achieve that goal, and I always love playing in Surprise. The weather and the atmosphere and the courts here gets me excited for the matches. I remember seeing Eleonora [Liga] and Maddie [Kane] play on the show court, and I always admired them for playing there, so it was a new experience to be in that spotlight. I think I like that court now."
 
After Bautista and Jordan got the Cougars off on the right foot in doubles, the first-team All-PacWest combination of Karola Suviste and Larsson won 6-3 at No. 2 doubles to secure the first point of the match. The Cougars then won the first set on all six singles courts with Katherine Nguyen topping off the sweep in a tiebreaker on court 16.
 
Larsson and Jordan both won their singles matches by the same score in just over an hour to make it a quick 3-0 lead for the Cougars. At that point, Shannele Lopez, Suviste, and Bautista were all up a break in the second set, and racing to be the one to clinch.
 
Bautista was the first to finish, breaking in the final game against Tay to pick up her sixth win at No. 1 singles this season. It was Bautista's third career singles victory at the conference championships with both previous wins being in straight sets against Concordia.
 
"I think this was the best I've felt in a while," Bautista said. "In six weeks, this was the strongest I played and I'm just glad to have the opportunity to compete today. It was very stressful for me coming here, before the match started my confidence was very low, but after this first win, I'm more comfortable and ready to keep helping my team."
 
Friday's rematch with Biola will begin at 9 a.m. The Cougars won both previous meetings this season against Biola, including a 4-3 victory at Biola just three weeks ago. Azusa Pacific is seeking a fifth-consecutive trip to the championship match, while Biola is one win away from its best finish at the PacWest Championships in program history.