SURPRISE, Ariz.—Trailing 3-1,
Azusa Pacific fought back to claim a stunning 4-3 win over the University of Indianapolis on Wednesday morning at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club.
The Cougars advance to the Quarterfinals, where they will take on No. 1 Barry on Thursday at 9 am.
Biola’s season came to a close earlier in the day with a 4-0 loss to Catawba.
AZUSA PACIFIC 4, UNIV. OF INDY 3
And a child shall lead them….Freshman
Ben Behrend won the final match of the day in a wild three sets, finishing nearly an hour after all five other singles matches were complete for the 4-3 comeback win over Indy.
Behrend went a grueling three and a half hours to take the marathon over Indy’s Jovan Matovic, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (6-8), 7-5. That was the clincher after the Cougars had trailed 3-1. After the celebration ended, the Cougars headed for a quick rest before they are scheduled to take on No. 1 nationally ranked Barry on Thursday at noon.
Prior to Behrend’s heroics, APU had won the doubles point with wins on courts two and three in a pair of tight matches. On court two,
David James Brownlee and
Viktor Van Croenenbroeck triumphed 6-4, with
Joan Crespo and
Christopher Marci following suit on court three, 7-5.
That gave the Cougars a 1-0 team lead, but Indy took the next three points in singles on courts two, six and three, all in straight sets to go up 3-1.
But the Cougars began their comeback first on court one with
Soeren Grandke’s 6-2, 6-4 victory. It took another 45 minutes, but Crespo was next in the victory column with a win on court five, 6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 6-0 to even the match at 3-3.
That left Behrend, who dropped that second set in a tiebreaker, just as Crespo was closing out his match. That left both teams cheering on Behrend and Matovic. That duo was tied at 5-5, before Behrend closed out with two wins to send the Cougars into celebration.
APU will head to the quarterfinals with a 23-5 record, while Indianapolis finishes their year at 18-5.
CATAWBA 4, BIOLA 0
#5 seed Catawba (North Carolina) improved to 21-1 with a 4-0 win over Biola on Wednesday morning at Surprise.
The Indians won the doubles point with wins on courts two and three, and took a victory on court one to take a 2-0 lead. Their next win came on court six to take a 3-0 margin.
Biola was one winner away from a team point on court number four with
Pol Masafret leading 6-2, 5-4 (40-15), but Catawba clinched on court three just prior to Masafret’s finish to claim the match.
The Eagles finished their finest season at Division II with a 17-5 record.