DAY 24 (Aug. 24): Volleyball’s New Look
The Felix Event Center is one of the premier NCAA Div. II venues on the west coast, playing host to the Azusa Pacific men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and acrobatics & tumbling teams. And while it has been a great home to the Cougar volleyball program since opening in 2001, it will undergo a bit of a change for Azusa Pacific’s 11 regular season home matches.
DAY 23 (Aug. 23): Winning In The Classroom
Azusa Pacific’s athletic success is measured by eight consecutive Directors’ Cup trophies, but the Cougars have also been honored for success in the classroom. For the sixth consecutive year, at least 10 Cougar teams were recognized as NAIA Scholar Teams, and the 2011-12 campaign also featured the selection of 11 players who were the first student-athletes in school history named to their respective Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America teams.
Ten Azusa Pacific teams earned the designation as an NAIA Scholar Team, which requires it to have a minimum 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as defined by the institution. The team grade point average must include all varsity student-athletes certified as eligible. Azusa Pacific was one of four schools who finished in the top 10 of the Directors’ Cup standings to have 10 or more NAIA Scholar Teams, as well.
DAY 22 (Aug. 22): More Than A Game
Eddie Garcia met the Azusa Pacific football team in 2006, when the Cougars hosted a day of Special Olympics as part of the football program’s outreach into the community. That event marked the beginning of Garcia’s friendship with the Cougar football program, and over the course of that friendship Eddie has had a steady presence with the team, attending practices and games while keeping Azusa Pacific’s coaching staff updated on his Special Olympics performances and academic achievements.
DAY 21 (Aug. 21): The NCCAA And What It Means For Azusa Pacific
After decades of competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Azusa Pacific has a two-year “waiting period” before becoming eligible to compete as a full member of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division II postseason. However, in the meantime the Cougars will compete in the National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA), an organization which Azusa Pacific was a founding member of in 1968 and which currently sponsors 23 championship events.
DAY 20 (Aug. 20): Tennis Streaks Still Alive
Although both of the men’s and women’s tennis teams at Azusa Pacific lost their No. 1 players (Janosch Apelt and Natalie McNall) to graduation, both teams bring back significant winning streaks atop their lineups.
In 2012 Jochem Hoefnagels made program history, becoming the first player in over a decade to put together an unblemished record in the regular season. The Asten, Netherlands native ran his winning streak to 24 matches by the end last year, finishing his junior campaign with a 21-0 mark in the regular season.
DAY 19 (Aug. 19): Streaming Live From Azusa
Fans of Azusa Pacific will have a new way to follow the action this year, as Cougar Athletics will announce this week that it has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide full-season live video streaming for selected sports in the 2012-13 school year.
Initial plans include season-long live video streaming coverage for Cougar football, volleyball, basketball (men’s and women’s), and acrobatics & tumbling home events. Other sports may be added to the schedule later in the year, and the first scheduled video streaming broadcast is Azusa Pacific’s first-ever Pacific West Conference matchup in any sport as the Cougar volleyball team hosts California Baptist on Tuesday, Sept. 11. The partnership also provides a new live stats interface to accompany the live video streaming broadcasts.
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