GREG BARNETT
Sports Editor
The No.-13 Pepperdine men’s tennis team extended its winning streak to 10 matches with a 5-2 home win over No.-53 Fresno State on Sunday afternoon.
Head Coach Adam Steinberg said he knew it would be a close match and Fresno State would play their hearts out because they’re trying desperately to get in the NCAA tournament.
“[Fresno] was dying on the court,” Steinberg said. “Their intensity was great and they were beatings us with their intensity at times, which we should never let happen.”
The Waves won all three doubles matches to begin the match, but two wins were not without drama. The No.-3 tandem of junior Brian Brogan and sophomore Mahmoud Kamel was the first to finish with a quick win over sophomores Flavio Mollinedo and Tejesvi Veerepalli (8-2).
“We just started off well and then tried to keep our lead,” Kamel said. “We served smart, moved on the right points and tried to make as many returns and they just broke down.”
The No.-1 and No.-2 contests were much closer, with both decided by a tiebreaker. Seniors Andre Begemann and Omar Altmann were down 6-7 with Fresno serving, but broke them at love to tie the match. The two teams forced a tie-breaker at 8-8, and Begemann and Altmann rallied to win three points in a row to take the match and the doubles point, 7-4.
Just after Begemann and Altmann clinched the doubles point, sophomore Bassam Beidas and freshman Rickus de Villiers headed to a tie-breaker of their own, which they quickly took care of over sophomore Taylor Leiby and freshman Denny Fafek, 9-8 (7-3).
In singles play, the Waves were able to win four out of the six matches, including Beidas in the No.-2 singles slot continuing his streak to 13 consecutive wins after beating sophomore Mirko Zapletal (6-4, 6-3). Kamel battled with Fafek to a close two-set victory (7-5, 6-4).
In the No.-5 singles, de Villiers won his first set and said he was a bit up and down but was pleased with how he was able to win when he was down a break in the third set at 4-2, but came back to win the match over freshman Martin Nilsson (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).
“I was happy with how I played, I could have played a bit smarter in the second set but I think I came back well in the third,” he said. “We’re all playing well, it’s good we’re all kind of finding some form.”
Rounding out the Waves’ wins was freshman Alex Moreno, who stepped in to the lineup at the No.-6 slot and took care of freshman Siddharth Alapati (6-4, 6-4).
The two Wave losses came in the No.-1 and No.-3 slots with Begemann and Altmann losing the longest matches of the day, both in three sets. Begemann, ranked No. 6 nationally, was upset by No.-104 Rudolf Siwy (6-2, 3-6, 2-6). Altmann lost his first set, rallied to win the second but came up short in the decisive third set to Veerepalli (2-6, 6-2, 3-6).
The Waves are back on the court today when they host UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m.
04-10-2008
