SURPRISE, Ariz. – Both Concordia University Irvine tennis teams fended off their lower-seeded counterparts in the PacWest Conference Quarterfinals on Thursday.

Ranked at No. 43 in the ITA DII national rankings, the third-seeded CUI women claimed the doubles point when Heather Richards and Sophie Rachor eked out a 7-5 win at No. 1 doubles.

Rachor was recently named the PacWest Freshman of the Year. Her and Richards have now won 11 times at the No. 1 doubles spot this season.

Rachor and Alicia Da Re also earned a point for Concordia at the No. 2 and No. 6 singles positions.  Both of them built an early lead before their opponent retired, which handed those points to Concordia.

Already up 3-0, Tiffany Carrillo clinched it for the Golden Eagles with a 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 3 singles.  Richards was also leading her match at No. 1 singles after locking down the first set 7-5 before the game was called.

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On the men's side, No. 39 Concordia drew No. 37 Biola for the third time this season.  After posting 4-3 victories over Biola in the first two meetings, the Golden Eagles bested their rivals 4-2 this time in the playoff bracket.

CUI locked down the team point when James Caddies and Tim Nutz held on for a wild win at No. 3 doubles.  Caddies and Nutz won 7-6 (7-4) after Mike Jansen and Leon Czarnikau had already emerged victorious at the No. 2 doubles spot.

Adam Large won his No. 6 singles match for the third time this season against Biola to make it 2-0 in favor of Concordia.  Jansen won 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 3 spot but Biola came back to cut the deficit to 3-2 with wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles.

With two matches still hanging in the balance and going to a third set, Julius Seifert broke through for a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory at the No. 2 spot to deliver Concordia the victory.

Both Concordia squads will now compete Friday in the semifinals against higher-seeded teams.  The women are 16-2 but draw the only team that has defeated them all season in No. 2 seed Azusa Pacific. The CUI women have now won the most games (16) in a single season since the 2010 team won 17 times. 

The CUI men will face top-seeded Hawai'i Pacific on Friday at 1 p.m. and it will be the second meeting between the two squads this spring.  HPU defeated CUI by a slim 4-3 margin back in March.

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CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's tennis schedule