It was a tough day for the Eagles as they took on the 3-0 Cougars of Azusa Pacific University at the Biola Tennis Center on Monday. Biola’s men’s tennis team entered as heavy underdogs to their longtime rivals and APU came out on top, 5-0.
The competition started with a quick consistent series of doubles losses for Biola. Sophomores Logan Blair and Quentin Lau took on the no. 1 doubles team but fell short 6-3. Senior David Garcia and freshman Edwin Ramos also took a 6-3 loss. Juniors Erik Martinez and Derek James, the final doubles pair from Biola, was also overtaken by APU, 6-3.
The Eagles had an emotional day, and it showed through frustration on the courts due to the competitive nature of both teams. Blair took on APU’s no. 2 player in his singles match which ended early due to forfeit, resulting in a 6-1 loss, his first singles loss of the season. Freshman Andres Meneses fell short in the no. 4 spot 6-2, 6-0. Ramos was the next Eagle to finish his singles match but also missed the mark, losing 6-2, 6-2.
“I think one of the biggest things is sometimes when you hit the adversity people tend to get quiet and kind of shrink in that situation,” said head coach David Goodman. “And today things got tough and we kinda shrunk back and looked like we have in the past, but I think this is a good learning experience for us… I want to see a step up in those situations rather than revert back to what we’ve done in the past.”
Martinez was able to pull out a win in the first set of his match against APU’s Jesse Haas, but ultimately followed the trend of his teammates, losing 2-6, 6-1,10-6.
“I need to try and stay focused on the match. I think after the first set I was so caught up on trying to finish it out for the boys rather than taking it one ball at a time. I just got ahead of myself,” Martinez said.
James and Garcia had their games called due to a new rule that terminates games still in progress when a team is ahead three singles wins to none.
The Eagles (1-2) will seek to redeem themselves at home on Wednesday at 2 p.m. against Concordia University.
