IRVINE, CA --- With four of its six wins in singles coming in three sets, the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Concordia has to be feeling that familiar mixture of exhaustion and satisfaction, as the Eagles handed No. 5 Azusa Pacific a 7-2 loss in GSAC play Friday afternoon at CU Tennis Courts.

The win is Concordia's seventh in a row, and improves the Eagles to 9-1, including 6-1 against Golden State Athletic Conference foes, while the Cougars drop to 6-3, 4-2 GSAC.

"This was a big win against Azusa men's tennis today," head coach John Norton said. "It was a very tough fight from all of the guys. This was our strongest showing to date against the Azusa Pacific men."

Starting with doubles play, it was clear that whatever the result, this one was going to be a dogfight. The Eagles won the first two spots in doubles by scores of 8-6 and 9-7, and lost the No. 3 position by a score of 8-2.

The No. 3 singles spot was a trouble area as well, as APU's Alex Lane downed Kareem Berdai by scores of 6-3, 6-4, but that would prove to be Concordia's only loss in singles action.

Bruno Santarelli, Ryan McNamara and Jan Guler all dropped the second sets of their matches but recovered with wins in the third, and Andrey Potapkin took care of his opponent, Janosch Apelt, by scores of 6-4, 6-0, to hold down the No. 2 spot.

Augusto Elias fell behind Mattijs Bolsius with a 5-7 loss in the first set, but then recovered to earn convincingly, at 6-0, 6-1, in the remaining two sets to clinch the top spot for the Eagles.

Concordia next hosts Amherst (MA) in non-conference action a week from today, Friday, March 19, starting at 1 p.m. at CU Tennis Courts.