The Arizona Christian Firestorm beat both the Biola Eagles’ men’s and women’s tennis teams on a day with a drizzle of unexpected rain and three men’s players struggling with the flu.

The men’s team nearly got the win, losing in the final singles match of the day. On the women’s side, they came up short in all but one singles match. The men drop to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in Golden State Athletic Conference play, while the women fall to 3-8 overall and also 2-3 in GSAC.

Sophomores Lucas Lee and Joe Turnquist each struggled through the day with the flu, and junior Luke Mountain came down with it so badly that he could not play at all. Additionally, Lee was the only player who had his singles match decided by three sets, and it turned out as the match that decided who won the tournament.

Biola started out well in the doubles competition, taking two of the three matches. Their top team, composed of Turnquist and sophomore Philip Westwood, barely lost the top match 9-7. In singles play, Biola and ACU split the first five matches, meaning the final match decided the tournament. The match ended up incredibly close, with Arizona winning 5-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“Today we played better doubles,” said Brent Worthington, head coach. “We've been focusing on doubles and having the right mindset to play smart tennis and eliminate unforced errors, and we took a step in the right direction.”

On the women’s side, one day after facing the No. 7 ranked Brenau University, they faced the No. 8 ranked Firestorm. Junior Kelsey Post proved the only Eagle who could take a match from Arizona, and she had to work hard for it. She played on the fifth singles court, and the match took three sets to decide. Post took the first set 7-5, dropped the second 6-0 and won the tiebreaker third 10-6.

The women’s team will play again at 3:30 p.m. on March 7 against the Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish, a non-GSAC opponent. The men’s team face Palm Beach the following day, starting at 3:30 pm.