SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Assistant
After dominating two home games against Boise State and BYU last week, Pepperdine men’s tennis remains undefeated.
No.-9 Pepperdine played against No.-28 Boise State at Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center on Thursday. Although assistant coach Per Nilsson said playing against a nationally ranked team was going to a huge game, the Waves overpowered the Broncos 6-1.
Pepperdine clinched the doubles point as its No.-1 pair of senior Scott Doerner and sophomore Andre Begemann defeated the nation’s No.-7 duo of Luke Shields and Thomas 8-5. Senior Kevin Borzenski and junior Richard Johnson also defeated Eric Roberson and Ehren Vaughan 8-5 to put the Waves up 1-0 in the match.
In singles, Doerner faced No.-13 nationally ranked Shields and captured a win 6-3, 7-5 in straight sets. Senior Ivor Lovrak and freshman Omar Altman also overwhelmed their opponents in straight sets. Lovrak served Schoeck a 6-4, 6-1 defeat, while Altman easily handled Ehren Vaughan 6-2, 6-1. Junior Richard Johnson and freshman Denis Reinert came back from a one-set deficit to overcome Eric Roberson and No.-88 Brent Werbeck, respectively.
Pepperdine, maintaining the momentum, captured another victory over No.-63 BYU on Friday. The Waves posted a perfect 6-0 record with this win, while the Cougars fell to 2-3 on the season.
The Waves earned a point in doubles when the Doerner-Begemann and the Lovrak-Altmann duos respectively defeated the Lechuga-Ludlow and the Kaufhold-Kokurin pairs 8-3.
Domination continued for Pepperdine in singles as Doerner, Lovrak, Johnson, Begemann and Altmann recorded victories, which led to an overall victory against BYU 6-1.
After capturing the sixth consecutive victory from the season opener, Doerner said this year’s team is the best Pepperdine team in the in the past three years.
“We’ve got a depth this year,” Doerner said as the team leader. He also said one of the reasons that “the team is looking great” is the strong connection with the newcomers.
“The new guys fit in the team great,” he said. “They are close and honest even off the court.”
The strong connection also exists between the players and the coaches, Doerner said.
“Coaches are fantastic,” he said. He also said they are very close with the players.
Head Coach Adam Steinberg said he was excited that his team is undefeated after the first six matches.
“I love our team,” he said. “It’s the most together team we’ve ever had.”
He also said the new players have adjusted to the team very well.
“They’ve fit in amazingly: they are close on the court, in the locker room and off the court,” he said. “The team is just like a family.”
The Waves won the past five matches without their No.-2 player, Pedro Rico, who has been suffering from an eye injury for the past two weeks. According to Rico, his left eye is well enough to come back to practice. However, Steinberg does not want to let him play in a game until it’s completely healed, Steinberg said.
“We don’t want to take a chance,” he said. “It’s good that we have a little break now,” Steinberg said.
Pepperdine is on an eight-day break until it hosts Cal Poly and Wisconsin for a doubleheader on Saturday.
02-02-2006