UPDATED BRACK and CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE
SURPRISE, Ariz.—The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least in the world of Pacific West Conference men’s tennis.
For the third year in a row and for the seventh time in the last ten years, the Azusa Pacific and Hawaii Pacific will square off for the PacWest title. The Cougars won their semifinal over Concordia, 4-0, and the Sharks won by the same score over Biola. The Cougars were the first ones off the court, winning their singles matches in straight sets, while the Sharks had a much tougher battle with Biola that took just shy of an hour longer but ended with the same team score.
APU will be chasing their third consecutive title, each with a championship win against the Sharks. HPU won the championship bout against Azusa from 2014-2017. In the only match in 2024 in which the two teams played, the Cougars won at Azusa, 6-1.
Biola and Concordia will meet in the Third Place Match, Point Loma and Fresno Pacific will play for Fifth Place and MSU Denver and Hawai`i Hilo will tangle for Seventh Place.
Here are today results, with tomorrow's schedule....
FRIDAY SEMIFINALS
#1 Azusa Pacific 4, #5 Concordia 0
#2 Hawai`i Pacific 4, #3 Biola 0
CONSOLATION
#4 Point Loma 4, MSU Denver 0
#6 Fresno Pacific 4, #7 Hawaii Hilo 2
SATURDAY CHAMPIONSHIP, 9 AM
#1 Azusa Pacific (21-0) vs. #2 Hawaii Pacific (12-4)
THIRD PLACE, 9 AM
#5 Concordia (13-10) vs. #3 Biola (15-8)
FIFTH PLACE, 9 AM
#4 Point Loma (12-8) vs. #6 Fresno Pacific (6-9)
SEVENTH PLACE
#8 MSU Denver (9-13) vs. Hawaii Hilo (6-9)
#1 AZUSA PACIFIC, 4, CONCORDIA 0
The Cougars moved to 21-0 and into the conference championship with a fairly quick win over the Golden Eagles. APU won the doubles point with a pair of 6-2 wins, and then captured a trio of singles matches within the hour. Emilio Elias Walter remained unbeaten on the season, winning on court one 6-2, 6-1. Constantin Barth won on court five (6-1, 6-1), and the Cougars then clinched on court three with Soeren Grandke’s 6-2, 6-2 victory.
#2 HAWAII PACIFIC 4, #3 BIOLA
This match was the same score as the other semifinal, but it was a much different contest. All three doubles matches were closer, with the Sharks winning on court one and three by 7-5 and 6-4 scores. In singles, the only quick match was on court six where HPU’s Adam Vasir won 6-0, 6-1, but all the other match-ups were battles. Robin Sanz won a very entertaining match on court one over Nico Ramirez, 6-3, 6-4 and Paul Johannes clinched on court five over Santino Serralonga, 6-3, 7-5. Meanwhile, three other matches went unfinished that were in the third set, or split sets were a real possibility.
#4 POINT LOMA 4, MSU DENVER 0
The Sea Lions won two of the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead, and then won quickly on singles court one via Alexander Leischner, 6-1, 6-0. PLNU’s Lukas Schuster made it 3-0 on court six at 6-2, 6-2, and Nabeel Khan clinched it on court five 6-2, 6-1. Meanwhile, the remaining three matches were all close to splitting sets.
#5 6 FRESNO PACIFIC 4, #7 HAWAII HILO 2
This match was the last one off the court on a very warm morning (85 degrees). The Sunbirds won two of the three doubles matches, but Hilo won the first singles match on court one to tie it at 1-1. Cian McDonnell provide that win, moving up from his normal #2 slot to the top court. Sven Bangert got FPU back on top on court six (6-4, 6-1), then the Vulcans countered with Luca Matheiowetz victory on court three, 6-3, 7-5. One minute later, the Sunbirds took a 3-2 led on Emilio Seelbach’ 6-4, 7-5 victory on court five, and the Sunbirds clinched with Ben Cronau’s three-set win over Yu-jhe Du on courtfour, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.