WILLIAM ADAMS
Sports Assitant
The Pepperdine men’s tennis team showed its dominance this weekend at the 51st Southern California Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament. The event quickly transformed from a contest to a demonstration of pure talent and effort as the Waves crushed one opponent after another.
On Saturday, Pepperdine duo sophomore James Lemke and junior Omar Altmann captured the doubles title, while Lemke beat his doubles partner at Sunday’s singles final match.
After plowing through a tough field, Lemke and Altmann found themselves in the championship match Saturday. Cassidy Mears and Jonathan Sanchez (Brigham Young University) stood between the waves and the doubles title, but Pepperdine’s duo made short work of the Cougars, easily defeating them 8-2.
“We had never played together in doubles,” Altmann said. “We took some time to get to know each other on the court. We had good chemistry and moved well; we just got along really well on the court. That’s why we played really well.”
The singles competition again proved to be no challenge with the exception of Altmann’s emotional victory over teammate Mahmoud Kamel 7-5, 6-0, and the finals found Lemke and Altmann sharing the court again, but this time a singles was title already guaranteed to Waves. The two fought for three hours just one day after lengthy doubles play, and Lemke came out on top with a 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory in a highly contested final. The win brought Lemke the first singles title of his collegiate career.
“It was weird,” Lemke remarked. “Omar [Altmann] played really well, and I would have preferred to play against someone else, but it was good for Pepperdine to do so well.”
At the ITA Indoor National Championships in Columbus, Ohio, sophomore Bessam Beidas and senior Andre Begemann represented Pepperdine well, but neither was able to escape the quarterfinal round.
The Waves action at the weekend’s event wraps up their schedule for the fall, but the team will resume action in spring at the Sherwood Invitational, which begins Jan. 11.
11-08-2007
