AZUSA, Calif. – In a battle of the top-2 teams in the PacWest, Azusa Pacific snapped Point Loma's 12-match winning streak with a 4-3 win at home to complete a season sweep on Saturday afternoon at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex.
 
Despite the Cougars' road win over Point Loma earlier in the season, the ITA placed the Sea Lions as the highest ranked team in the West Region thanks to some impressive wins for Point Loma in the two months since the last meeting. While Point Loma got a point closer to victory this time, the Cougars remain undefeated this season against PacWest opponents, virtually locking up the No. 1 seed at the upcoming PacWest Championships.
 
No. 17 Azusa Pacific is now 16-2, holding onto the best record in the PacWest as No. 13 Point Loma drops to 14-3. The two teams remain in prime position to earn the two host bids for the NCAA West Regional in May.
 
The Cougars took the doubles point with strong performances at the second and third doubles positions, while No. 29 Julia Jordan and Vini Bautista reunited at No. 1 doubles for an unfinished set. At No. 3 doubles, Shannele Lopez and Tina Moser quickly earned the first set with a 6-1 win for the Cougars.
 
Stina Larsson and Karola Suviste won 6-1 at No. 2 doubles to clinch the doubles point. It was their 13^th doubles win this season, surpassing Point Loma's No. 1 doubles team of Quin Brady and Arianna Audelo for the most doubles wins of any PacWest team this season.
 
In singles, the Cougars won the first set on four of the courts, putting themselves in a position where they needed to simply win on three of those four courts to take the match. In fact, the Cougars did just that while having to accept losses by retirement at the two courts where they didn't win the opening set.
 
Shannele Lopez put together one of her best matches of the year, winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles. She topped Melissa Zirkle, who was the hero in Point Loma's recent win over Biola, and has been a key part of Point Loma's success during Audelo's absence.
 
Azusa Pacific pulled within a point of victory when Karola Suviste got revenge on Emely Valencia at No. 4 singles. The two players met at No. 5 singles two months ago where Valencia handed Suviste one of her only two losses on the season. However, Suviste avenged that early season loss by winning 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday, dropping one less game than Valencia had in the previous encounter.
 
Katherine Nguyen was on fire to start her match, taking the opening set at love against Brady, who hasn't lost all year to anyone other than Larsson. Brady fought back to take the second set, breaking at the end of the set to force a third.
 
That shifted the pressure over to Larsson who had won her first set but trailed 0-4 in the second set. However, from 2-5 down in the second set, Larsson didn't lose another game for the rest of the day. She won five games in a row to take the match 6-3, 7-5, to tie Suviste for most singles wins this season in the PacWest at 16.
 
Brady eventually came back against Nguyen and saved match points to win at No. 3 singles, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5. That made the final score 4-3 as Azusa Pacific completed the season sweep and reinforced their spot as the No. 1 seed at the PacWest Championships later this month.
 
Azusa Pacific will play back-to-back matches on Wednesday and Thursday against Fresno Pacific and Cal State LA, respectively. The Cougars beat each of those teams 6-1 in their previous meetings this season.