SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Assistant
Without one of the most important players on the team, Pepperdine men’s tennis team dominated three home games over the weekend.
The Waves played a double header against Saint Mary’s and San Francisco on Saturday and had another game against UC Irvine on Sunday.
The No.-9 Pepperdine swept its competition Saturday as it recorded 7-0 victories over Saint Mary’s and San Francisco at the Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center. The two wins moved the Waves to 3-0 on the season, while Saint Mary’s fell to 0-2 and San Francisco, who opened its 2006 season against the Waves, dropped to 0-1 on the season.
Pepperdine faced Saint Mary’s in the morning and quickly earned the doubles point. In the No.-1 match, the team of Scott Doerner and sophomore Andre Begemann swept the Gaels’ Martin Marechal and Adam Fauvre with an 8-0 score. In the No. 2 position match, the senior duo Ivor Lovrak and Kevin Borzenski defeated Yury Platonov and Adam Christener 8-6.
The Waves also won all six matches in singles, giving them a 7-0 overall victory over the Gaels. Freshman Omar Altman and transfer sophomore Andre Begemann captured their first singles win since they came to Pepperdine.
The Waves kept their momentum into the afternoon game against San Francisco and again swept the Dons 7-0.
Pepperdine again quickly got the doubles point when the Dornner-Begemann team defeated Matthew Berry and Mitch Del Rosario. Also, freshman Denis Reinert and Altman captured their first doubles victory at Pepperdine.
The Waves also quickly took down the Dons in the singles by winning all six matches. Reinert also posted his first singles victory in his college career.
Pepperdine kept its momentum through Sunday’s game against UC Irvine and concluded its weekend with the fourth-consecutive win from the beginning of the season. The Waves quickly captured a point in doubles, winning all three matches. In singles, they won five out of six matches and defeated the Anteaters 6-1.
Although the Waves dominated all three schools over the weekend, they were lacking a significant player: Pedro Rico.
Rico, with his fellow seniors Doerner, Lovrak and Borzenski, leads one of the best teams in the nation. His victory over Somdey Devvarman last week determined the overall win against No. 1 Virginia and brought one of the most valuable season-opening victories in Pepperdine’s history. However, the season opener’s hero could not even play over the weekend because of an eye injury.
“I haven’t been playing since last Thursday,” Rico said. During Thursday’s practice, a ball glanced off his teammate Lovrak’s racket’s frame and unfortunately nudged his left eye, which caused a serious infection, he said.
He said he was going to see the doctor Monday and hopes to be back in practice next week.
Assistant Coach Per Nilsson said he was worried about Rico’s injury.
“He is the most important player on the team,” he said, “and I hope he is going to get better soon.”
Despite a temporary loss of the season opener’s hero, Rico’s injury also helped the team in a way.
“It’s good for the new guys, too because they can get some experience,” Nilsson said.
Dominating all three matches over the weekend, the rest of the Waves proved that they are still deep without the No.-2 player on the team.
This week, Pepperdine will host two home games against No.-28 Boise State on Thursday and Brigham Young on Friday. Both games start at 1 p.m.
“We’ve got a huge match on Thursday,” Nilsson said, “and I hope he is going to be ready for that.”
01-26-2006