Senior Freddy Wilkens earned his 17th straight win of the season and worked alongside sophomore Tomas Aranguiz for their 10th win as doubles partners in the sweeping of UC Riverside on Saturday, April 5. Photo credit: Kimberly Smith
The No. 10-ranked Azusa Pacific men’s tennis team posted its second sweep in two days, defeating NCAA Division I opponent UC Riverside 9-0 on Saturday, April 5 — one day after dominating Point Loma. This was the Cougars’ fifth sweep of the season.
Freshmen Alan Leahy and Pascal Engel started the day with a strong 8-1 victory over juniors Luis Gastao and Sean Robles. Sophomore Jan Meyer and junior Gary Yam proceeded to defeat the freshmen team of Cooper Bridge and Michael Carella 8-3 and improved to 6-0 as a duo at No. 1 singles. Senior Freddy Wilkens and sophomore Tomas Aranguiz closed doubles play with an 8-4 win over the sophomore pair of Jack Felich and Marcus Vizcarra. This was Wilkens’ and Aranguiz’s 10th win as doubles partners, making them the only Cougars’ doubles team with double-digit wins.
In singles play, No. 5-ranked Meyer went ahead 6-0, 3-0 against Gastao before the match was retired. Aranguiz earned the next win for the Cougars at No. 6 singles when he defeated Robles 6-2, 6-1. Leahy defeated Yun 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot for his 10th win of the season, which brought his overall record to 10-10. Engel faced Felich at No. 3 singles and won 6-4, 6-1 to improve his record to 3-1 at the No. 3 spot. Yam defeated Carella at No. 5 singles 6-4, 6-2 for his 10th singles victory of the season, bringing his overall singles record to 10-6.
Wilkens was the last Cougar to finish, defeating Bridge in the day’s only three-set match 5-7, 6-3, 10-6. This win boosts Wilkens’ winning streak to 17.
Azusa Pacific now enters its final week of the regular season. The team will face Biola on Wednesday, April 9 and UC San Diego on Friday, April 11. Wednesday’s matchup against the Eagles is a home match set to start at 1:30 p.m. at the Munson & Bavougian Tennis Complex.