By Jacob Norling
February 12, 2024
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Tennis won the doubles point, but by the end of the day on Monday, it was Azusa Pacific who won the match. The Cougars turned things around to win five of six singles matches earlier today, allowing APU to hand Westmont a 5-2 loss.
 
In doubles, Logan Thompson and Owen Vander Ark teamed up to defeat Cole Rassner and Barth Constantin 6-2 on line two. On three, Michael Hopkins and Goor Adiv did the same, clinching the doubles point with a 6-2 win over Soeren Grandke and Brady Bohren.
 
In singles, however, Westmont could muster only one win, which came on three thanks to a Thompson victory over Rassner (6-3, 7-5). Austin Stone also had a competitive match on one, but in the end, Elias Emilio Walter out-lasted Stone by a score of 4-6, 6-1, and 6-2.
 
Outside of those two matches, Miha Velicki defeated Ethan Ha on two (7-6 (5), 6-1), Grandke bested Adiv on four (6-1, 7-6 (4)), Barth got the better of Vander Ark on five (6-2, 6-1), and Brady Bohren defeated Preston Hastings on six (6-3, 7-5).
 
"My takeaways are mostly positive," assured Westmont head coach Chris Elwood. "I loved how our team responded in doubles and a close-loss against ACU. Today, we came out strong on two and three, with a new addition in Michael Hopkins on three."
 
In regards to singles, Elwood said, "This match was so close. When you look at the scores, Austin wins that first set, Ethan was in a first-set tiebreaker, and then Logan won his match. Goor was in a second-set tiebreaker, and Preston was in a tight second-set.
 
"With that, we gave ourselves opportunities, and because of that, again, there are positive takeaways from this one. Azusa Pacific brought back most of a phenomenal team from last year, and in some cases, maybe even got a bit stronger.
 
"For us to compete at their level, I thought it was exciting. I hope our guys take belief from this match, and learn from it as well, so we're in a better position next time to compete at an even higher level."
 
Westmont will now play away from home for the next two weeks, with their next match scheduled for Friday at 4:00 p.m. at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.