SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
It is not easy to get momentum back once it is lost.
The Pepperdine men’s tennis team broke its seven-game winning streak when it lost to No.-1 Georgia during the National Team Indoors in Chicago two weeks ago. Since then, the Waves have been away from a victory.
This past week, Pepperdine played against three top-ranked teams —No.-3 Virginia, No.-28 Wake Forest and No.-5 UCLA — and lost to all them 6-1, 5-2, 6-1, respectively.
Adding three losses against top-ranked teams this past week, the No.-14 Pepperdine men’s tennis team dropped to 7-6, and its losing streak is now five.
Despite these disappointing results in recent matches, junior player Andre Begemann said he and the team want to take this losing streak positively.
“We’ve been on the road for about two weeks, and it’s hard to play against those top-ranked teams at their turf,” he said. “Obviously, there are some negative things, but it’s been a good experience for young players. I want to take it positive, even though it’s tough.”
Pepperdine traveled to the East Coast this weekend and faced Virginia with a hope to upset the better-ranked team two years in a row. However, the Waves’ objective was crushed when the Cavaliers quickly took the doubles point and beat five of six Pepperdine singles players to capture a 6-1 victory.
The Waves could not get their momentum back during Sunday’s game against lower-ranked Wake Forest and lost to the 23rd-ranked team 5-2.
Coming back to southern California did not help the team, and Pepperdine lost to local rival UCLA 6-1 in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Even though the Waves captured the doubles point, they lost every singles match.
“We were close in singles, but they got us,” Begemann recalled Wednesday’s match. “They were really good singles players.”
With this win, the Bruins improved their all-time record against the Waves 32-16.
After going 1-5 for this six-game away trip, the team plays the upcoming five matches at home. Begemann said this will be a good opportunity for the team get refresh and snap its losing streak.
“We are just trying to establish positive energy out of this,” he said. “We are looking forward to come back and play at home.”
The Waves start a five-game home stand Thursday, March 8 when they welcome UC Santa Barbara. Staying in Malibu for the spring break, Begemann said it’s good that he and his teammates will have some time to practice although he is a bit jealous about other students.
“It would be great to go to Hawaii,” he said.
The team is schedule to travel to the Aloha state in later this month.
03-01-2007