Azusa Pacific gave national notice with a big 4-1 over No. 3 ranked Washburn last week, while also taking down Hawai`i Pacific 6-1. The Cougars Miha Velicki was impressive with a three-set win over a ranked player from Washburn, and also captured singles victories against the Sharks. 

2025 Results/Schedule
2025 Standings
ITA National Poll

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific's Miha Velicki, Grad., 6-0, Maribar, Slovenia                                
Azusa Pacific's Miha Velicki won both of his singles matches against No. 3 Washburn and preseason PacWest No. 2 Hawai`i Pacific in wins for the Cougars. Velicki opened the week by defeating Vaclav Schneider, the No. 8 player in the nation, saving a match point to clinch the win against No. 3 Washburn. He won 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7) after saving a match point with a serve and volley, and then won with a passing shot to keep the Cougars undefeated against Division II teams. On Sunday, he won 6-4, 6-3 against Finnegan Heber at No. 3 singles to help the Cougars earn a 6-1 win over Hawai`i Pacific in a rematch of the last three PacWest Championship matches. He also had a win with Joan Crespo in doubles against Division I Weber State.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific Cougars                                                                                                
Azusa Pacific made noise at the national level with their 4-1 win over Washburn (Kan.), the No. 3 ranked team in NCAA Division II. The Cougars won the doubles point with Miha Velicki and Joan Crespo clinching on court three (6-4), and also won on court one against the No. 2 ranked doubles team in the nation behind Soeren Grandke and Elias Emilio Walter, 6-1. The Cougs then won the three singles matches that they needed, including Grandke's victory on court one over No. 3 ranked Tim Hammes, 6-3, 6-3. APU won two of their matches in three set battles, with Velicki and David James Brownlee winning their marathon battles. Against Hawai`i Pacific, the Cougars won all of their matches in the 6-1 victory in straight sets in a rematch of the last three PacWest Championships. APU's only loss of the week was a 4-3 setback to Division I Weber State, but the Cougars sat out four of their top players that day. The Cougars are now 10-2 on the season, with their only two losses coming against Division I teams. 

ITA NATIONAL RANKINGS: Azusa Pacific is ranked No. 10 in the latest ITA national poll (March 5), with another poll coming out tomorrow (Wednesday, March 12). Concordia is No. 23 and Colorado Mesa is No. 27. The first singles ranking of the spring also came out, with this list of PacWest players: (27) Soeren Grandke (Azusa Pacific), (31) Lluc Limongi Ollers (MSU-Denver), (36) Elias Emilio Walter (APU), (60) Joan Crespo (APU), and (64) Lemiel Taira-Hoy (Concordia). PacWest players ranked in doubles are (36) Felix Veyhle-Max Mueller (Concordia) and (38) Marco Jalalian-Alessandro Munoz (MSU Denver). 

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: MSU-Denver claimed two wins at home over Hawai`i Hilo by 7-0 and 4-0 scores...Fresno Pacific upset No. 13 ranked Rollins in Orlando, with three of the matches going three sets. The Sunbirds won two of those extra time bouts, with Emilio Seelbach clinching on court five...Hawaii Pacific beat Westmont 4-3, with three of the singles matches either going three sets or having a tiebreaker...Hawaii Hilo and Colorado Mesa split a pair of matches in Grand Junction, with the Vulcans taking the first match 4-3 with the Mavericks rallying back for the 4-2 victory on the same day....Biola won conference bouts with Menlo and Jessup.

THIS WEEK: Weather permitting (two matches have already been cancelled today, Tuesday), a good batch of matches are on the schedule. Hawaii Pacific concludes its mainland trip on Wednesday at Biola, while Point Loma (Augustana) and Concordia (Western New Mexico, Lubbock Christian) host non-conference matches. Azusa Pacific welcomes Western New Mexico on Thursday, as does Biola on Friday. Westmont travels to take on Jessup and Menlo over the weekend, while Point Loma hosts Navy (Friday) and Hawaii Hilo (Saturday). Colorado Mesa comes to southern California to take on Biola and Westmont. Azusa Pacific hosts Lubbock Christian on Saturday.  To see the complete schedule, click here.