It was a dramatic afternoon at the Abbott Tennis Courts as the #25 Warriors of Westmont took on #5 Azusa Pacific. After being swept by the Cougars in doubles play, the Warriors made a valiant effort to try and win five of six singles matches and claim the victory. In the end, Azusa Pacific (3-1, 2-1 GSAC) prevailed 7-2 over Westmont (1-6, 0-4 GSAC).
In doubles action, the Cougars’ Matthijs Bolsius and Mathias Weber defeated Mattias Neuman and Bryan Cox 8-3 at number one. On the number two court, Janosch Apelt and Jack Zapala claimed an 8-5 win over Westmont’s Arthur Kalayjian and Ryley Schultz. At number three, Ronald Chow and Daniel Moore defeated Aaron Cooke and Kent Stormans 8-3.
“It was encouraging to see that we could play singles with and make a match of it with the fifth-ranked team in the country,” said Westmont head coach Chris Elwood. “But we have a serious issue with our doubles. We are going to be spending 70 percent of our practice time on doubles play.”
Needing just two of the singles matches to go their way, Azusa Pacific got the first one at number four where Apelt defeated Schultz 6-2, 6-1. Shortly thereafter, Weber was forced to retire from his match with Cox on the number two court. Cox was leading at the time 6-3, 2-0 when a sore wrist caused Weber to withdraw.
That meant that Westmont would need to win all four of the remaining matches, each of which had progressed to a decisive third set.
With the third set tied at one each on the number one court, Neuman collapsed to the ground while experiencing sever leg cramps. The match was suspended several minutes while Neuman recovered.
A few minutes later, Azusa Pacific picked up their match-deciding fifth point on court number five where Moore defeated Stormans 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. With the outcome determined, Newman then retired on court one.
“Mattias battled at number one,” noted Elwood. “His body is just not making it through three sets. So, he needs to start winning in two.”
Meanwhile, the action was heating up on court four between Cooke and Chow.
“I got down early three-love (in the first set),” said Cooke. “I double-faulted a couple of times and got broke. I was having trouble with his serve early on so he was holding easily. So we played out the first set and he won 6-3.
“In the second set we held serve for most of the set and then I managed to get a break at three-all. I capitalized on that and put that set away (6-3).
“In the last set I got an early lead 4-1. I started jerking my serve a little bit and he made it back to 5-4. We had a long game with a lot of break points but I managed to hold him off and take the match (6-4).
“When I was up 4-1, 30-all, I got hooked on a point and got a little out of sorts and that let him back in the set. At 5-4, 30-all I lost my footing and hit my hip. That let him back into that game and made it closer than I thought it should have been.”
Attention then shifted to court six where Kalayjian and Hough were tied at four-all in the third set. Because darkness was threatening, a tiebreaker was played to determine the winner of the final set. Hough prevailed 7-2 in the tiebreaker.
“Both Arthur and Kent played their best matches of the season,” noted Elwood.
Despite the loss, the Warriors hope to capitalize on what they have learned from this match.
“Before Kent lost, there was a lot of energy from all three upper courts,” said Cooke. “I felt in tune with my teammates in a way that we had not been in sync yet this year.”The Warriors will have a chance to put that harmony to the test on Saturday when they travel to La Mirada for a two o’clock match-up with Biola.
#5 Azusa Pacific 7 #25 Westmont 2
Singles
#1 – Matthijs Bolsius (APU) def. Hans Mattias Neuman (WC) 6-4, 3-6, 3-1 ret.
#2 – Bryan Cox (WC) def. Mathias Weber (APU) 6-3, 2-0 ret.
#3 – Aaron Cooke (WC) def. Ronald Chow (APU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
#4 – Janosch Apelt (APU) def. Ryley Schultz (WC) 6-2, 6-1
#5 – Daniel Moore (APU) def. Kent Stormans (WC) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
#6 – Whitman Hough (APU) def. Arthur Kalayjian (WC) 4-6, 6-3, 4-4 (7-2)
Doubles
#1 – Matthijs Bolsius /Mathias Weber (APU) def. Hans Mattias Neuman / Bryan Cox (WC) 8-3
#2 – Janosch Apelt /Jack Zapala (APU) def. Arthur Kalayjian / Ryley Schultz (WC) 8-5
#3 – Ronald Chow /Daniel Moore (APU) def. Aaron Cooke / Kent Stormans (WC) 8-3
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