CUI Pushes Past Point Loma In Quarterfinal Upset
Brian Gaul
The Rundown: They say it's hard to beat a team three times in a season, and the Concordia Eagles made it even harder Thursday with an upset win over Point Loma, 5-4, in the PacWest Championships Quarterfinals from Surprise, AZ, their first win over PLNU this season.
By the Numbers: The Concordia Eagles trailed 0-2 after the first two doubles matches finished, but Filip Burnac and Harsha Manjunath snatched a win, 8-5, in #2 doubles to get the first point of the day. PLNU took #6 singles, but Burnac defeated Martin Blaho, 6-3, 6-0 in #2 singles to stay within a point. Till Guttenberger then evened everything at three with a comeback 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in #1 singles. Daniel Reddmann gave CUI their first lead with a 7-5, 6-4 win at #4 singles before PLNU took #3 singles to tie the match at four.
The Difference:Â Manjunath conjured a comeback 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win in #5 singles to secure Concordia's first PacWest Championships win.
"The men played with so much heart today," CUI head coach Jonathan Sanchez said. "Because of a last minute injury we had to rearrange our lineup and players 3-6 played in unfamiliar roles. But we were able to overcome that challenge and beat a very strong Point Loma team. I could not be more proud of our team's effort. I would like to recognize Harsha Manjunath on saving match points and battling back to win this match for our team."
What it Means:Â The Eagles extend their season another day.
Up Next: They will face Azusa Pacific in the semifinals tomorrow at 1:30 pm. Look for the live stats link on cuieagles.com.
