SURPRISE, Ariz. – After having gone over a month without dropping a single set, losing a tiebreaker 8-6 proved not to be too big of an obstacle for Soeren Grandke to overcome on his way to clinching a 4-3 victory for Azusa Pacific against Hawai`i Pacific on Friday afternoon in the PacWest Championships semifinals at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.
 
The Cougars had beat Hawai`i Pacific in each of the last three PacWest championship matches, but for the first time ever, the Sharks and Cougars squared off in the semifinals. The Cougars overcame a slow start to even the all-time series against Hawai`i Pacific in Surprise, 4-4, and surpass their rivals as the all-time winningest team in tournament history.
 
No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific is now one win away from the PacWest Slam. The Cougars will face first-time PacWest finalist and No. 2 seed Concordia on Saturday at 1 p.m. Azusa Pacific narrowly won both previous meetings with the Golden Eagles this season.
 
Grandke frequently is the first Cougar to finish his singles match, but on Friday, he and Brody Bohren were the only players left on court after three hours of tennis. And because of the layout of the courts in Surprise, neither player could see the other from their own court.
 
In a battle of first-team All-PacWest honorees, Mile Matic took the opening set which lasted over an hour in a tiebreaker. That ended a streak of 22-consecutive sets won by Grandke, but he fought back forcing a deciding set with a break in the tenth game of the second frame.
 
Grandke broke again early in the third set, and the PacWest leader in wins this season took care of his serve the rest of the way. He broke again on a backhand winner down the line on match point to clinch victory for the Cougars, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2.
 
"I knew that even though the first set was really close, I had to win for the team, because the match overall was very close," Grandke said. "I knew the team would need my point. I got a bit more loose and adjusted to the wind. It was really tiring because the first set was really long, but I was still confident in my abilities after the first set. I knew I could win it, but against Mile, it was going to have to be a tough fight."
 
The 3.5-hour duel that ended with Grandke's match-clinching win gives the Cougars a 22-3 record on the season, while Hawai`i Pacific drops to 9-7. The Sharks will face now face No. 3 seed Point Loma in the third-place match. The Sharks and Sea Lions both remain in strong position to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA West Regional.
 
"My teammates really supported me," Grandke said. "I heard that Joan and Elias both won and I saw Miha playing well next to me and Marlon was a huge help for me, having him in my corner throughout the match. Most of the matches were finished while I was still in the second set, so having all the support of my teammates helped me."
 
Tiebreakers tormented the Cougars at the start of the match. Hawai`i Pacific clinched the doubles point in a tiebreaker and then won the opening set on two singles courts in tiebreakers to put the Cougars in a precarious position. The Sharks also got a quick win from Finnegan Heber at No. 4 singles, meaning that either Bohren or Grandke would have to come back from down a set if the Cougars were going to win.
 
"We had to find a way to be positive in singles and treat it like a new match," Grandke said. "That wasn't easy for me, and I lost the first set. Mile was playing really well in the first set, but then I got used to the wind a bit, and Miha was next to me and gave me a lot of energy because he was playing really well."
 
On each of the other three courts, Azusa Pacific won the first set. Joan Crespo was the first to finish his match, earning a 6-3, 6-2 win that got the Cougars' comeback started. Then Miha Velicki closed out a dominant performance against a fellow All-PacWest selection, 6-1, 6-2.
 
On center court, it was a showdown between Elias Emilio Walter and Jakub Beran who had faced each other three years in Surprise but hadn't faced each other since then. Just like in the previous round, Walter dropped the first two games of the match and then reeled off six in a row to win the opening set.
 
Walter remained in control throughout the rest of the match and earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory for the Cougars at No. 1 singles to take a 3-2 lead as a team. That meeting three years ago was Walter's first career win at the PacWest Championships and Friday's was his seventh, setting a new Azusa Pacific record for career singles wins in the conference tournament.
 
That left just Grandke and Bohren on court. Bohren dropped his opening set in a tiebreaker and Arthur Pery broke early in the second set to put Bohren in a hole. However, Bohren broke back when Pery served for the match and went on to win four games in a row to even the match at one-set apiece. The match was stopped at 6-7(5), 7-5, 2-2 when Grandke clinched the victory for the Cougars.
 
In doubles, Velicki and Crespo earned a 6-3 win at the No. 3 position. Hawai`i Pacific won 6-2 at No. 2 doubles to put all the attention on the center court at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Club. Beran and Yannick Heitzenburg forced the deciding set into a tiebreaker and then took that set 7-6(4) to put Azusa Pacific into an initial hole. Still, the Cougars singles lineup pulled them out of that hole as it has done so many times over the course of the 2025 season.
 
In the championship match at 1 p.m. against Concordia, Azusa Pacific is seeking to win a fourth-consecutive PacWest title and the fifth title overall. The Golden Eagles, who already set a program record for best finish, are looking for their first-ever PacWest crown. For Walter and Velicki, they are seeking to become the second and third individuals in PacWest men's tennis history to be four-time All-PacWest selections and four-time PacWest Champions.
 
"Concordia is really good this year and we had two close matches against them," Grandke said. "They also had to get through two tough matches to get to this stage. I think if our whole team shows up from 1-10, I think we have a good chance to win. It'll have to start with playing well in doubles."