Noah Godwin
Assistant Sports Editor
Pedro Rico at the net.
Keith Novosel / Staff Photographer
Following this weekend’s performance, it will be hard to classify any Pepperdine win as an upset.
The men’s tennis team has now solidified a place among the nation’s elite teams after extending its home winning streak to nine matches with wins over No.-2 University of Illinois and No.-15 Texas A&M University this past Friday and Saturday.
The wins came in front of the largest crowds of the season and bolted the 14-2 Waves to a No.-7 ranking, and the team has not tasted defeat since losing 4-3 at No.-1 Baylor University on Feb. 25.
Up next for Pepperdine are No.-51 Brown University tomorrow at 1 p.m. and No.-23 Harvard University on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
California State Unversity, Fresno, visits Malibu on Wednesday for a 1 p.m. match that will mark the Waves’ eighth-consecutive home match.
Junior All-American Pedro Rico, the No.-16 player in collegiate tennis, is on a five-match singles winning streak after beating Illinois’ No.-24 Kevin Anderson and Texas A&M’s Ante Matijevic.
Rico’s match against Anderson looked bleak after Rico lost the first set 0-6. He responded with a 7-6 win in the second and third sets to take the match.
“We’ve got so many players right now stepping up that I’m just happy to be a part of this run by helping us get points,” Rico said.
No.-51 Scott Doerner is also on a roll, playing in the top spot for the Waves. Doerner’s big win over the weekend came against Texas A&M’s No.-12 Jerry Makowski.
Doerner rolled to a straight-set win in helping Pepperdine secure the 6-1 match victory over the Aggies.
“Scott definitely deserves to be playing in the top spot for us because he’s playing some of the best tennis of his career right now,” Rico said.
Pepperdine’s lone senior, Alexis Rafidison, clinched the match against Illinois with his win over Ruben Gonzales.
The Waves have gotten off to leads in all 16 matches this season by winning every doubles point so far.
The Doerner-Rico combination is ranked No. 14, and freshman Jonas Berg and junior Ivan Lovrak are No. 40.
But Head Coach Adam Steinberg said that the No. 3 position consisting of junior Kevin Borzenski and sophomore Richard Johnson has played a huge role in the Waves’ biggest matches.
The duo is 11-4 this season and posted a win against Illinois.
“We’re a team that feeds off of one another, so when several players get hot we tend to all start playing better like we are now,” Borzenski said.
03-31-2005
