SAN DIEGO – The Sea Lions opened their home schedule with a visit from one of the toughest teams in the PacWest, the Azusa Pacific Cougars. APU is ranked No. 13 in the country right now with the Sea Lions coming in at No. 21, and the Cougars proved why they are ranked so high with a 4-1 win on the afternoon.
 
With the match needing to be pushed back due to bad weather early on Saturday, the teams began with singles play and played to clinch, meaning once one team earned four points the match would end. The Cougars earned the first point of the match with a win at No. 4 singles, but Nicole Camaratta would respond with a win at No. 6 singles to even the score.
 
The Sea Lions put up a solid effort on each court, but APU was too much as they earned wins at Nos. 1, 5, and 2, respectively, to get to four points to secure the match. With the game being decided in singles play, the teams did not continue to doubles action.

Team Records
Point Loma 1-1, Azusa Pacific 2-1

Wheeler's Words
On facing a tough APU team: "They are always a tough team. They are team that we have battled over the last two or three years, we have had close matches every time we have played them. Our team knew that going in, we were expecting a tough match, but we were really excited for the challenge as well. We got through a really tough road test a couple days ago up at Cal State LA and I think the girls were fresh and ready to go. I think, simply, that we just got beat by a little bit better tennis today. I was very happy with how we competed and how we played together as a team. Sometimes the way you lose is more telling than the way you win and I was very proud today."

On the team's competitiveness in the match: "We started with singles and only played singles since we played to clinch, but I thought girls did a great job of playing true to their game and game style. It is something that I talk about a lot, insuring that they are not taken out of their game. They could lose confidence and do things differently or allow their opponent to take them out of their game, and I thought the girls did a really good job of not letting that happen today."

On facing a tough turnaround to host a DI opponent on Monday: "I expect them to be ready to go. We usually only get to play a couple of DI schools each season so I know they are looking forward to that and the challenge it brings. In my opinion, our conference is even better than a lot of DI conferences these days, but when you have the DI name it adds a bit to the match. The team will be focused and ready to go and I'm excited to see them out there."

News and Notes
> Camaratta is the only Sea Lion to win both of her singles matches to start the season.
> PLNU and APU have split their season series the previous four years, APU was the last team to sweep the regular season matches in the 2015 season.
> The Sea Lions are now 22-26 all-time when facing the Cougars. 

Up Next
Point Loma has a quick turnaround playing again on Monday when they host Division I opponent, Idaho State at 1 p.m.

Results
Box score

Match Notes:
Azusa Pacific 2-1; National ranking #13
Point Loma 1-1; National ranking #21
Order of finish: Doubles (); Singles (4,6,1,5,2)
T-2:19 A-40