Pepperdine’s men’s tennis team ranked 20th in the nation earned a stellar 6-1 victory over No. 35 ranked Boise State on Saturday Feb. 12th at the Ralph Strauss Pavilion in Malibu The win improves the Waves record to 6-2 this season and reinstates the team’s momentum after a brutal loss to the University of Southern California on Friday.
Pepperdine earned the opening doubles point winning two out of three doubles matches just as they had done on Friday against USC. Boise’s No. 1 doubles duo of Scott Sears and Damian Hume beat Pepperdine’s Finn Tearney and Hugh Clarke (8-4). The Waves rebounded winning both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles with Pepperdine’s Alfredo Moreno and Alex Llompart trouncing Nathan Sereke and Jeff Mullen (8-4) while Sebastian Fanselow and Jenson Turner did not allow Filipp Pogostkin and Andrew Bettles of Boise to win a game in their (8-0) victory.
The Waves continued to dominate losing only one of the six singles matches contested. No. 1 singles player Finn Tearney unleashed a (6-2) (4-6) (1-0) (10-6) win against Boise’s Damian Hume. No. 2 Fanselow nationally ranked 14th demolished Pogostkin (6-2) (6-0) while Pepperdine’s No. 3 Llompart overcame Scott Sears (6-3) (6-4). Freshman No. 4Moreno was upended by Boise’s Jeff Mullen (4-6) (6-1) (6-7). To round out singles Pepperdine’s No. 5 Mousheg Hovhannisyan outplayed Bettles (6-2) (6-4) while Pepperdine’s Clarke issued a decisive (6-1) (6-1) blow over Sereke.
Pepperdine’s victory on Saturday restored confidence among the Waves after a sharp loss against USC the day before. Even though the Boise State Broncos have been struggling with their game this season entering this match with a dismal 2-4 record the Waves executed a precise game plan.
Teammates Fanselow Tearney and Llompart all point to the consistent strength of Pepperdine’s doubles and noted a need for improvement in singles. The duo of Fanselow and Turner has been particularly strong entering this weekend with a perfect 4-0 record in duals this season and easily won contests Friday and Saturday improving their season record to 6-0.
Fanselow emphasized that improvement for the Waves will come slowly.
“Our goals during the season are to improve every week he said. We just want to learn from a few things and keep doing better.”
The Waves will next play in the Blue Gray Invitational in Montgomery Alabama on February 25th.