Pepperdine’s men’s tennis team was issued their second defeat of the season at No. 1 USC’s Marks Tennis Stadium on Friday Feb. 11. The contest was pivotal for Pepperdine ranked 20th in the nation who has been riding a wave of victories since the season began and faced its toughest match to date against the formidable and undefeated USC (7-0) losing 5-2.
Play was based on a “first to four” format with one point awarded in doubles and the rest earned in singles. The Waves opened with strong doubles play winning two out of three doubles matches handing Pepperdine the first point.
Steve Johnson and Ray Sarmiento of USC defeated junior Hugh Clarke and sophomore Finn Tearney of Pepperdine (9-7) in the No. 1 doubles match while the Waves rebounded with the No. 2 Pepperdine duo of freshman Alfredo Moreno and junior Alex Llompart beating Daniel Nguyen and Emilio Gomez (8-6) and the No. 3 Pepperdine team of sophomore Sebastian Fanselow and junior Jenson Turner outlasted Jaak Poldma and JT Sundling (8-5).
In singles USC’s No. 1 Steve Johnson trounced Tearney (6-1) (6-4) Trojan No. 2 Jaak Poldma outplayed Fanselow (6-3) (7-6) tie 7-5 and SC’s Daniel Nguyen rolled over Llompart (6-2) (6-2). The No. 4 Trojan Ray Sarmiento continued SC’s dominant streak with a (6-3) (4-6) (6-3) victory over freshman Moreno. Pepperdine’s No. 5 sophomore Mousheg Hovhannisyan provided Pepperdine its only singles victory with a (6-4) (6-3) win over Peter Lucassen. The Trojans rounded out the day with No. 6 Emilio Gomez beating Clarke (6-3) (6-3).
Combining the doubles and singles Pepperdine earned only two points in total compared to USC’s five. Pepperdine’s season record now stands at 5-2 while USC boasts a perfect 7-0. Despite the loss the Waves recognize the difficulty in playing the country’s top ranked team and remain generally impressed with their play specifically their two doubles wins.
“We had great doubles which is unreal since we have been lacking that the past couple of years explained junior Wave Daniel Moss. We now need to work on taking advantage of the momentum we gain from winning that first doubles point and taking it into singles.”
The resilient and focused Waves next face No. 35 Boise State on Saturday Feb. 12th at home.