Surprise, Ariz.- With a bid to the GSAC final on the line and holding a slight 3-2 team edge, Arizona Christian held off Westmont on Wednesday afternoon.  Jose Dominguez clinched the team victory after securing a 5-4 edge in the third set before winning his final game.

Match Info

• Match score: Arizona Christian - 4, Westmont - 2
• Records: Arizona Christian - 12-7, Westmont - 8-9
• NAIA Rankings: Arizona Christian - RV, Westmont - not ranked
• Location: Surprise Tennis Center, Surprise, AZ

Inside Box Score

• The Warriors won the first double match
• But Andre Millet and Martin Thomas responded by winning 6-4 on court three
• Anthony Popyrin and Jonas Wand needed their best effort to win a 7-6 match on court one to lock up the all-important doubles win
• Popyrin earned a speedy 6-2 and 6-2 win to start singles
• Westmont closed the gap to 2-1 with a win on court two
• Thomas cruised 6-2 and 6-0 in 6's single action for a 3-1 ACU cushion
• The Warriors once again fought back with a win in the first of three matches to go to the third set
• Dominguez went up 6-2 after one set before falling 6-3 in the second
• In the third set, Dominguez was up 5-4 and served up the win on a deuce point
• After splitting 6-2 results in the first two sets, Andres Vasquez and his Westmont foe were tied 5-5 in the third when their match went down as unfinished
• The Firestorm last played in the GSAC finals in 2019 when they wrapped up their second straight GSAC tournament championship

Thoughts from Coach Carlisle

"There is not enough words to fully express how proud I am of our guys.  We had to dig deeper than we ever have to pull this one out today and it took every guy on our team to make it happen.  We saved two match points at number one doubles and that momentum was huge for us going into singles.  Then we were able to get quick wins at one and six singles to really put the clamps down and our guys in the middle gave everything they had to get that final point.  As has been the case a lot this season, our guys off the court brought so much energy to the match and it makes all the difference in the world.  Just another total team win today and I could not be more proud of our entire team for getting it done. "

Match v Westmont

Doubles competition

1. Popyrin, Anthony/Wand, Jonas (ACU) def. Thompson, Logan/Ha, Ethan (WC) 7-6

2. Hemry, Joseph/Vander Ark, Owen (WC) def. Dominguez, Jose/Vasquez, Andres (ACU) 6-0

3. Thomas, Martin/Millet, Andre (ACU) def. Saito, Benny/Wright, Tristan (WC) 6-4

Singles competition

1. Popyrin, Anthony (ACU) def. Thompson, Logan (WC) 6-2, 6-2

2. Hemry, Joseph (WC) def. Wand, Jonas (ACU) 6-3, 6-3

3. Ha, Ethan (WC) def. Millet, Andre (ACU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2

4. Dominguez, Jose (ACU) def. Vander Ark, Owen (WC) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

5. Vasquez, Andres (ACU) vs. Wright, Tristan (WC) 6-2, 2-6, 5-5 unfinished

6. Thomas, Martin (ACU) def. Saito, Benny (WC) 6-2, 6-0

Up Next

On Thursday, the second seeded Firestorm will battle top seed San Diego Christian in the GSAC finals at the Surprise Tennis Center with the GSAC tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament at stake.  First serve will come at 9:00 am.