AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific’s men’s and women’s tennis teams have both received first-round byes in their respective fields of next week’s NAIA Tennis National Championship tournaments in Mobile, Ala. The Cougar men will be making their 13th consecutive appearance while the Cougar women notched the program’s 11th straight appearance. Both teams are at-large representatives from the Golden State Athletic Conference, which sent a tournament-high 6 teams into both the men’s and women’s draws.
On the men’s side, the No. 6-seeded Cougars will play a second-round match at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13, taking on the winner of a first-round matchup between GSAC rival Point Loma Nazarene and tournament host Mobile (Ala.). Azusa Pacific swept the season series over Point Loma Nazarene, a 5-4 home win that christened the new Munson and Bavougian Tennis Complex along with an 8-1 road victory later in the year.
The Azusa Pacific women, seeded seventh, also open tournament play with a Wednesday, May 13 second-round matchup against the winner of the Bethel (Kan.)-Brenau (Ga.) match. Either opponent provides a first-time meeting between the schools for the Cougars.
Azusa Pacific’s men finished 13-12 in regular season play, 10-6 in GSAC play, and the Cougars closed out the regular season with wins in 6 of the final 8 matches. Azusa Pacific played a competitive non-conference schedule, featuring a pair of top 10-ranked teams from NCAA’s Div. II and 5 top 10 schools from Div. III. All of the Cougars’ 12 losses ended up coming to top-10 NCAA Div. II, III or NAIA teams. Highlights of the 2009 season included a 5-4 win over Div. III’s No. 2-ranked UC Santa Cruz and another 5-4 victory over the NAIA’s No. 5-ranked Concordia.
Azusa Pacific brings to the tournament a strong singles trio in juniors Matthijs Bolsius (15-6) and Mathias Weber (10-9) along with successful newcomer Janosch Apelt (15-6), a true freshman. Weber finished the season with 6 straight victories and Bolsius had a 10-match winning streak in the heart of the schedule. The second-year doubles tandem of sophomore Daniel Moore and junior Ronald Chow nabbed a team-high 11 victories.
Meanwhile, freshman Natalie McNall (16-3 in doubles), Emily Ignas (13-6 in doubles), and Leah Hoffee (11-6 in singles) energized the Cougar women with strong campaigns to lead Azusa Pacific to a 14-8 overall record that included a 13-5 mark in GSAC play. The Cougars engineered a handful of 5-4 come-from-behind victories, 5 in all.
Sophomore Marie Tanaka had a team-high 12 wins on the singles docket, and the University of Hawaii transfer will be seeing her first national tournament action. Senior Katy Jelsma is making her fourth and final appearance in the tournament, while sophomores Sheryl Bon and Casey Wetzig are expected to return near full strength after extended late-season layoffs due to injuries.
Should Azusa Pacific win its men’s and women’s second-round contests, the Cougars would likely be slated against GSAC rival Fresno Pacific in the quarterfinals in both sides of the draw. The Sunbirds won the men’s and women’s conference championships.
The Azusa Pacific men won the 2005 NAIA championship, made 5 trips to the national title match this decade, and have advanced to at least the quarterfinal round every year since the tournament changed to a team dual match format in 2000. The Cougar women collected a 2003 NAIA runner-up finish and have made 3 semifinal appearances this decade. Azusa Pacific’s women have a 5-year streak of advancing to at least the quarterfinals.
