AZUSA, Calif. – The top half of the Azusa Pacific men’s tennis lineup carried the Cougars to a 5-2 victory over Biola on Saturday afternoon at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex with the Cougars grabbing a 5-0 lead to decide the match before Biola got the last two points.
The top-2 doubles teams and the top-3 singles players won all of their sets on Saturday against the Eagles to secure the victory quickly before Biola could come back against No. 11 Azusa Pacific. The Cougars improve to 8-1 on the season with the sole loss coming against an NCAA Division I opponent, while Biola drops to 2-4 with the loss.
Doubles has been a struggle for Azusa Pacific early in the season, having secured the doubles point just one time in five matches against NCAA Division I or II opponents. Winning the top-2 doubles sets and leading in the unfinished No. 3 doubles set was an encouraging performance for head coach Mark Bohren, who mixed up the doubles pairings.
“We were going to try something different at some point, and today was just the day we tried it,” Bohren said. “We had lost the doubles point a few times in a row, but we weren’t playing poorly. We were always close. The key today was No. 2 doubles. They had been ahead in some matches but didn’t hold onto leads. Doubles is so quick with no-ad scoring, so there isn’t much room for error. Today, they consolidated their breaks and got the win, which is big for their confidence.”
Elias Emilio Walter and Soeren Grandke won 6-3 at No. 1 doubles, and then David James Brownlee with Brody Bohren clinched the doubles point, winning by the same score. At No. 3 doubles, Joan Crespo partnered with Miha Velicki and led 5-4 when the doubles point was clinched.
In singles, the Cougars claimed two quick points before Biola could get settled into the match. At No. 1 singles, Grandke faced Alejandro Flores Monteverde, who entered the match undefeated on the season, including a win over former PacWest Player of the Year Alexander Leischner. However, Grandke put on a dominant performance and raced to a 6-2, 6-2 win.
Brownlee won his match right after that, winning at No. 3 singles 6-0, 6-3 to make the overall score 3-0. He is now 7-0 on the season in completed matches with his sole loss coming by retirement.
Velicki didn’t get to finish his doubles match, but that wasn’t a problem in singles. After taking the first set 6-2, he battled through a tough second set. He came through for the clinching point, winning the second 7-5 against Jules Zanarelli, who has played No. 1 at times for the Eagles.
Max Schmidhauser got his third win of the season and his first win over a PacWest opponent. He won at No. 6 singles 6-2, 2-6, 10-4 against Santino Serrallonga. The Eagles won the final two matches. Bohren was locked in a tight first set, but Thiago Canessa won it in a tiebreaker and then took the match 7-6(3), 6-3. At No. 4 singles, Patricio Larrera won a marathon battle against reigning PacWest Player of the Week Joan Crespo from behind, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.
On Wednesday, former Azusa Pacific assistant coach Kirby Ronning, who is now the head coach at Washburn will be in town to face the Cougars. The match is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. if the weather allows.
