Men's Tennis

Cougars Chase Final PacWest Title

Azusa Pacific is the coaches selection to with the conference title in their final year in Division II. Biola is a close second in the annual men's tennis coaches poll.

Azusa Pacific has won three of the last four Pacific West Conference Men’s Tennis Championships, and in their final year of Division II membership, they would like nothing more than to win another.

The conference coaches think that they just might. The Cougars are the projected PacWest winners in the annual poll with 76 poll points, just ahead of second-place Biola with 69. APU received six of the nine first place votes, with the Eagles gathering a pair of first place votes as well.

Next in the poll is Hawaii Pacific (57), Point Loma (56), Hawaii Hilo (50), Fresno Pacific (37), Menlo (28), Westmont (23) and Jessup (9).

Azusa Pacific went 24-5 last season, and although they fell in the PacWest title match to Concordia they would go on to win NCAA matches against Hawaii Pacific and North Georgia.

Head coach Mark Bohren, in his 30th season (612-164), lost two-time PacWest Player of the Year Elias Emilio Walter and Miha Velicki from that team, but returns Soeren Grandke who was 26-2 a year ago playing at #2. Grandke won the NCAA West Region ITA title this past Fall. Grandke and Southern Arkansas transfer Mathys Pinoit reached the ITA doubles final.  Also returning is David James Brownlee, the PacWest Freshman of the year (16-9 last year) along with Joan Crespo (16-6).

Biola lands in the poll second spot. The Eagles return their No. 1 player in Alejandro Flores Monteverde along with Thiago Canessa who was 15-6 a year ago playing in singles spots 3-6.

Eagle head coach David Goodman also landed Angel Guerrero Melgar, a grad transfer from Westcliff, who reached the ITA final before falling to Grandke, along with All-PacWest Second Team member Adam Large who came over from Concordia after they dropped their program. Melgar and Monteverde won the ITA doubles final. Overall, Biola has five returning players and five transfers in their bid to upend Azusa Pacific.

Hawaii Pacific is next. The Sharks were 9-9 last year under first-year coach Daniel Pollack and advanced to the NCAA postseason, falling to the Cougars.

The Sharks return First Team All-PacWest player Mile Matic, who was 9-11 last year played at 1-2. Adam Vasir, a Third Team pick returns after a 18-7 season played at 2-3. Arthur Pery, 10-5 last year, adds strength to the back end of the line-up. Pollock has five returnees overall and four newcomers.

Point Loma, who finished third in the PacWest last season and qualified for the NCAA postseason play, lands in fourth in the 2026 poll. Head coach Curt Wheeler lost multi-award winner Alexander Leischner and all-conference member Andrew Suver, but does return All-PacWest honorees Finn Kirschner and David Fisinger. The Sea Lions have added Stanislaus Noel from Edinboro, an all-conference player.

Hawaii Hilo is fifth in the poll. Second-year coach Guilherme De Medeiros has in his pocket one of the top players in the PacWest in Jaime Paquet. Paquet was the PacWest Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-PacWest pick. The Tennessee Tech transfer was 16-4 at the No. 1 singles spot. The Vulcans were 8-12 last year and return four players.

Fresno Pacific follows in sixth. The Sunbirds were 10-9 last year and head coach Sam Gaeddert has five returning players but lost seven. Two of those returnees, Cedric Kaufmann and Juaquin Salinas Beltran reached the semifinals of the Fall ITA Doubles Championships.

Menlo returns eight players from a 9-6 team a year ago. Head coach Ben Cabell, in his fourth season lost five players from that squad. Westmont returns their No. 1 player in Austin Stone, who was 9-7 last year at the top spot. Head coach Chris Elwood has three transfers to bolster his roster. Jessup has a new coach in Nicole Briceno, who led the Academy of Art women’s program to a conference title in 2024, takes over the Warriors with eight returning players.

Play begins this weekend with a Friday match between Biola and Redlands, and on Saturday Wofford helps Point Loma kick off their season. Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Hilo will play a two-day doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday in Hilo.

The PacWest does not play an official conference schedule, but teams will mix non-conference matches and bouts against fellow PacWest teams through the front half of April. A committee will then select the top six teams to participate in the PacWest Championships, April 15-17 in Surprise, Ariz.