SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Assistant
The Pepperdine men’s tennis team has been unstoppable so far this season. Adding Saturday’s and Wednesday’s three victories to its record, No.-4 Pepperdine men’s tennis team maintains its perfect 9-0 record for the season.
After an eight-day break, Pepperdine hosted a doubleheader against Cal Poly and Wisconsin at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Saturday. The Waves dominated both the Mustangs and the Badgers, 6-1.
Pepperdine played another home game against cross-town Loyola Marymount Wednesday. The Waves dominated the Lions 7-0 and captured the nine-consecutive victory from the season opener.
The 2006 regular season’s longest eight-day break not only gave players some time to rest, but also brought the season opener’s hero back to the court.
“It’s great to be back,” senior Pedro Rico said after finishing the doubleheader on Saturday.
A few days after one of the most exciting season-opening matches in Pepperdine’s history, Rico had an accident during practice and severely injured his left eye.
Saturday’s match against Cal Poly was Rico’s first official game since the one against former No.-1 Virginia. However, he captured an 8-2 doubles win against Kyle Roybal and Nick Bergerhis with his partner senior Ivor Lovrak. He also beat Brett Van Linge 6-3, 6-4 in a singles match.
Rico maintained the momentum during the afternoon match against Wisconsin and registered two more wins later that day.
“My eye is perfect,” he said after completing Saturday’s matches.
Assistant Coach Per Nilsson seemed relieved watching Rico competing on the court after recovering from an injury.
“It’s good to have him back,” he said.
Freshman Troy Aiken also seemed excited to see Rico back on the court.
“He is playing good,” Aiken said, “I mean, not rusty at all.”
During the match against Cal Poly, Pepperdine won all three matches in doubles and got an easy point. The Waves added five more points in singles including the senior Scott Doerner’s win over No.-54 John Nguyen. Sophomore Oliver Hyams picked up his second win of the season after overpowering Aaron Elbert 6-1, 6-2.
Pepperdine took a similar route to another victory over Wisconsin in the afternoon. The Waves quickly captured a doubles point winning two-out-of-three matches. Doerner, Rico, Lovrak, junior Richard Johnson and sophomore Andre Begemann dominated their opponents in singles and registered five points.
Although Pepperdine already captured a team victory over Wisconsin, the close match between freshman Denis Reinert and Gian Hodgson became the center of attention. After losing the first set 6-7, Reinert won the second set 7-6. However, the exciting match ended when Hodgson won the third set 11-9.
Still, the Waves concluded their weekend with two dominating victories.
“We are intense and aggressive,” said transfer sophomore Begemann after defeating Wisconsin’s Felipe Bellido 6-1, 6-0.
“If we keep playing like this, there is no way we’ll lose,” he said.
Wednesday’s game against LMU was the first conference match of the season. The Waves won every match in doubles and singles and overwhelmed the Lions 7-0.
Pepperdine ended its nine straight home games from the season opener with nine wins. The Waves travel to UCLA and have the season’s first away match against the Bruins on Friday.
The UCLA match, which begins at 1:30 p.m. is the last one-on-one match for the Waves before the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Indoor Championships in Seattle the following weekend.
02-09-2006
