May 14, 2008

DAY 3 RESULTS

MOBILE, Ala-- Day three of the 2008 NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship is in the books and the prestigious field is down to four.

The top four seeds all advanced with little to no trouble to set up some top-flight matches for Thursday's semifinals at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center at 1:00 pm.

Top-seeded Auburn-Montgomery (Ala.) kept alive its dream of winning three-straight National Championships by disposing of Concordia (Calif.) 5-0. The Senators' win and Azusa Pacific's (Calif.) 5-1 victory versus California Baptist will set up a rematch of the last two title games, Thursday.

Auburn-Montgomery has blanked Azusa the past two seasons to win it all and the Cougars will have a chance at revenge as they seek to advance further for a chance to win their first title since 2005 and their second overall.

In other action Wednesday, 3^rd-seeded Fresno Pacific (Calif.) ended Graceland's (Iowa) Cinderella run with a 5-1 victory, winning the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 singles matches 6-1, 6-1; 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-1 to advance. The Sunbirds' opponent Thursday will be 2^nd-seeded Embry-Riddle (Fla.) after the Eagles rallied from an early deficit to send SCAD (Ga.) home.

The Bees of SCAD surprised by taking the top two doubles matches by scores of 9-7 and 8-2 for the early lead, but the Eagles dominated in singles play with four easy victories.

Of the teams remaining, Auburn-Montgomery has seven National Championships and has been runner-up five times. Azusa Pacific has the lone title in 2005 and has been runner-up four of the past five seasons. Fresno Pacific and Embry-Riddle are both looking for their first National Championship.