SURPRISE, Ariz. - Saturday will be a day that this group of tennis players at Concordia University Irvine will never forget.

The Golden Eagles captured the first men's tennis PacWest Conference Championship in program history by defeating the defending champs from Azusa Pacific, 4-3.

This is also the first PacWest title for any men's team at Concordia in the NCAA DII era.

Adam Large clinched the win in a thrilling third set at the No. 3 singles position and then was promptly mobbed by his teammates as the celebration began.

It was a fitting conclusion for a team that entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and had been nationally-ranked for the majority of the season. Two of CUI's previous losses had come against APU, but as the saying goes, it's hard to beat a team three times.

Concordia struck first by claiming the doubles point, but it was not easy.

Felix Veyhle and Max Mueller handled their business at the No. 1 court by a count of 6-3 and that helped offset APU's win at the No. 3 spot.

After getting to 6-6, Spencer Cinco and Adam Kartzinel rejoiced after clinching a tight battle at the No. 2 doubles position, 7-6 (7-4). 

Those clutch performances by those two pairs put CUI in the driver's seat early and up 1-0 in the match. Concordia just needed to split the six singles matches to win and that's exactly what they did.

Freshman Oleksandr Kolesnychenko continued his sneaky good spring with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 6 singles. Then, Max Renz won 6-4, 6-2 at court No. 4 to put CUI up 3-2.

After APU tied it at 3-3, it came down to Large against Miha Velicki of the Cougars. Large came up big by winning the initial set 6-2, but then Velicki drew even. Large forged ahead in the deciding third set and took a commanding 5-0 lead. He ultimately sealed the deal with a long rally that went his way for a 6-1 decision and the conference crown.

The CUI men's tennis team will enjoy this historic moment and prepare for more competition just around the corner.

The Golden Eagles clinched the automatic berth to the upcoming NCAA Regional which will be held in May. 

The date, location and time will be announced on Monday, May 5 at 5 p.m. PT.

Concordia has a chance to host the first round of the NCAA DII Men's Tennis Regional for the first time in program history, and likely will face Point Loma in a rematch. The official announcements for all the regional playoff sites and matches will come out that Monday.

CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's tennis schedule