Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 SURPRISE, Ariz. - After both Concordia Universirty Irvine tennis teams scored huge emotional wins on Thursday in the PacWest quarterfinals, the Golden Eagles were primed for an encore performance on Friday.
Both squads faced Azusa Pacific in the semifinals and came in as the underdogs based on the seeds. Despite their efforts, the Cougars proved to be too tough to cage and APU advanced with matching 4-0 victories over the Golden Eagles.
Usually it's ladies first but the men played in the morning. Thursday's finishing hero
Mario Aleksic and sophomore
Adam Kartzinel were leading at the No. 3 doubles position 5-3 but were stopped in their tracks once the other two slots finished ahead of them. APU won the doubles point with dueling 6-2 victories.
Spencer Cinco and
Lemiel Tairahoy both were halfway to earning a point for Concordia at No. 4 singles and No. 6 singles respectively. But Azusa Pacific locked down points at three other positions before they could officially capitalize and that wound up being why the final score looked more lopsided than it was at 4-0.
CLICK HERE for Tournament Central with the men's bracket
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI men's schedule
The ladies looked to pick up right where they left off the day before and got a good outing from
All-Conference doubles partnersÂ
Emilie Lugon-Moulin and
Bryn Johnson. The freshman duo won 6-2 at the No. 2 doubles spot, but APU earned the doubles point by negating their effort with wins at No. 1 and No. 3.
Lugon-Moulin and Johnson were also leading their matches in singles action. Each scored a 6-2 win in the first set and were involved in tight second sets with a chance to give the Golden Eagles two points in the score column. But similar to the men's match, APU scored three quick victories to call the match early by a 4-0 count.
Both Concordia teams will now play in the third place matches on Saturday in Surprise. Sticking with the name of the Arizona town hosting this tournament, Academy of Art on the women's side surprised everyone by advancing to the final after upsetting Point Loma on Friday, so that means the CUI women will play Point Loma on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The men will start things off again in the morning with a 9 a.m. rematch against Biola for third place. Both these teams split their meetings earlier this season.
CLICK HERE for the Tournament Central page with the women's bracket
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI women's schedule
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