OLIVER KIMOKEO | sports editor
photo courtesy | APU ATHLETICS
Sophomore Matthijs Bolsuis anticipates his proper stroke with precise racket positioning.


UC San Diego brought the clamor but Cougar tennis silenced the Tritons with a roar.

Light descended upon the Citrus College Tennis Courts on Feb. 2 through an array of spectacular splendor. As the sunshine broke through the dawn of the early morning clouds, the true character of the 2008 APU tennis teams were revealed.

Balls coated with a fluorescent yellow fuzz hardly attract an audience by itself. Rackets are needed to carry the momentum of the rally at hand. The Cougar tennis players had their arsenal of shots ready to go against the UC San Diego Tritons.

Whatever stroke was needed was the stroke available to use. Forehands were masterfully completed with a touch of ease and backhands were the flawless complement.

As a rule, the Cougars preferred to stay at the baseline but when the ball was hit in the service court, the Cougars tackled that challenge. The Cougars knew where to place the ball on the court and knew where to wait for a ricochet of a reaction shot.

Tennis players play their sport like chess; they anticipate their opponent’s move two or three sequences ahead. Patience is essential to winning a point and men’s tennis junior No. 2 singles player Patrick Kur comprehends this maxim.

“I’m just being consistent and working for every point which is the key in tennis,” Kur said.

For this particular tennis match against the Tritons, the day was organized in a men’s and women’s tennis doubleheader. The men started the competition at 10:00 a.m. against the backdrop of the San Gabriel mountains.

Men’s tennis had a score to settle with UC San Diego based on the 2007 meeting between the two universities. On Feb. 3, 2007, the Tritons swept the three double matches which were held before the six single matches. Facing a 3-0 deficit, the Cougars needed to win five of the six single matches in order to garner a victory over the La Jolla institution. APU fell one match short of the required fifth match as they were only able to earn four matches in their favor. The Tritons came away from the contest with a 5-4 victory.

Now one year later, the Cougars stared in the eye of the Tritons with an awareness of vengeance in their hearts. Their loss to UCSD in 2007 was neither forgotten nor ignored; it was only one of four blemishes on their record en route to a national runner-up distinction. The only method seemingly sensible to silence the Tritons’ twisted conch shell was to gather a lead in the double matches.

Not only did the Cougars satisfy their yearning for an early lead but they did so in a conclusive fashion. Senior Art Fatkhiev and sophomore Mathias Weber won their No. 2 double match with a 8-5 result, as did sophomore Ronald Chow and freshman Daniel Moore for their No. 3 double match with the same exact score. The No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Matthijs Bolsuis and Kur established a 7-4 lead in the pro-set but held on to a 9-7 victory as the Tritons put together a furious comeback in that match.

“When you get down 3-0 [in the tennis match], it’s just about impossible to comeback,” head coach Mark Bohren said. “It was really critical to get that lead. We’ve been practicing and working hard. It’s good to see some results today.”

As the Cougars created a 3-0 hole for the Tritons to climb out of, APU only needed to win two of the six single matches for the victory. The Cougars got five of those six singles matches, all in straight sets. Kur attributes the Cougars’ success to an advantage gained by playing in their home surroundings.

“It’s such a big advantage to play on your home court,” Kur said.

With the win against UCSD, the Cougars concluded an arrangement of three matches in three consecutive days. APU took 9-0 victories over La Verne and Occidental in the previous matches.

The Cougars are set to continue their dominance over their opponents for the season to come but they have a long way to go to match the standards of other supreme squads of this era.

While a 3-0 record is no doubt a worthy beginning to a superb season, the Cougars will need to win the next 21 games in order to have their best season-opening start. The 2004 Cougars began their season with a 23-0 start which is also their program-best winning streak.

Considering that men’s tennis put together an exquisite coup de grace of the Tritons, the women’s tennis were left to construct an earnest encore. The limelight was not as kind for the women as it had been for the men, but the women left center court with a redeemable performance which unveiled a selection of positive traits for the Cougars to build on.

The APU women entered the match after dismantling Cal State Fullerton in a 5-2 victory just three days prior. Their win over the Titans was just their second-ever triumph over a NCAA Division I opponent. The Cougars faced another renowned opponent in UC San Diego; the Tritons were ranked at No. 34 in NCAA Division II and Coach Bohren believes they will be ranked in the top ten at the season’s end.

“I think both matches are definitely an indicator of our talent in which we can beat a [NCAA] Division I school,” Bohren said. “We were neck-and-neck with UCSD who will be a top ten team for sure.”

The doubles portion of the women’s edition of APU-UCSD were all decided in commanding results. UCSD took No. 1 and No. 3 doubles with 8-1 and 8-2 scores respectfully while senior Bay Daniels and freshman Sheryl Bon took a 8-2 victory for the Cougars in the No. 2 doubles slot.

Left with a 2-1 deficit, the Cougars needed to win four of the six single matches to accomplish the narrow victory. Despite a plucky push on part of APU, the Cougars could only manage to receive a 3-3 split of the singles matches. As a result, the Tritons took the 5-4 score to their advantage and left APU with their first loss of the season.

Worthy singles performances of the love-set-match tradition belong to No. 3 freshman Casey Wetzig with a 7-5, 3-6 (10-6) victory and No. 5 senior Kim Tran with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. By far, the most competitive of the day belonged to the No. 1 singles battle of APU’s Daniels and UCSD’s Ina Dan.

In the first set of No. 1 singles, Dan took an early 2-1 lead but Daniels took a 3-2 advantage on the ensuing crossover. Daniels kept Dan within a comfortable distance for a little bit but closed the set 6-3.

Dan had initial control of the middle set and never relinquished the lead with a 6-4 decision; Daniels however closed a 5-2 deficit to 5-4. But the second set was not without its controversies.

The women disputed on the outcomes over a couple of outside-the-line calls on shots believed by the opponent to be in the courts. Per the custom in collegiate tennis, the women resolved the calls without direction from the coaches but that was not enough to ease the tension created when those differences of opinion on those corresponding shots.

After the second set concluded, the result of the team match was not in question as the Tritons had already clinched their fifth and deciding point but the third set of the Daniels-Dan faceoff did not lower in intensity. The third set began with a 1-1 standoff but Daniels coasted through the third set with a 5-1 finish to a 6-2 decision.

“I thought I played well,” Daniels said. “I thought the team played well. We played good together. Hopefully, we will pull out the team win next time.”

Following the match, Coach Bohren held a post-game meeting with the women and broke down the importance of wins and losses. Even though losses are hard to accept, they may be used as guiding posts for adjustments.

“There is a little truth in both wins and losses,” Bohren said. “We’re going to have a little bit of both this year where we may win matches we shouldn’t and we probably will lose a couple we shouldn’t. The women fought hard, they’re learning, keep working at it, and getting better. That’s all you can do. Keep practicing and see if we can make the adjustments.”

The Cougar tennis squads demonstrate a strong presence on the tennis court and they also contribute an unrelenting support for their teammates and an unfaltering dedication for their university.

“Not only are they good tennis players but also they’re great people,” Bohren said. “They work super hard in the classroom and I think they represent the university well on-and-off-the-court.”