SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
Winning a national championship two years in a row is never easy, especially when a team opens its new season with a loss.
However, Adam Steinberg said he is satisfied the way his players fought during Friday’s season opener against Illinois.
“I thought the guys were amazing this weekend,” said the head coach of the Pepperdine men’s tennis team. “I don’t feel like we lost. I think we won that match in a lot of ways in terms of our freshmen really growing up.”
It was a close match against the fifth-ranked team in the country. Considering its opponent had a higher ranking and home-turf advantage, a 4-3 loss could have felt like a win to the 10th-ranked Waves.
As the NCAA defending champions, the Waves traveled to Illinois this past weekend and opened its 2007 campaign with a 4-3 loss to Illinois on Friday. However, Pepperdine quickly came back and grabbed its first win of the season when it dominated Northwestern 7-0 during Sunday’s match.
“I felt we could’ve played a little better, but we couldn’t have tried any harder: their attitudes were just incredible,” Steinberg said on weekend’s loss to Illinois. “We are going to surprise a lot of people and we showed that we can play against any team in the country.”
Losing four players from last season, the team added three freshmen from all over the world: James Lemke from Australia, Mahmoud Kamel from France, and Bassam Beidas from Egypt. All of these newcomers played this weekend and earned their first points in college tennis.
“It’s a lot of fun, and I’m really enjoying it,” Lemke commented on college tennis. “The team atmosphere is really good, and everyone is winning their best for everyone.”
During Friday’s match, Lemke, with his teammate Beidas, won a doubles match against Illinois’ Marc Spicijaric and GD Jones and also captured his first singles point when he clinched a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Brandon Davis.
Two days later, he lost in a doubles game against Northwestern’s duo but bounced back with a singles win over Juan Gomez.
He is 1-1 in doubles and 2-0 in singles after the season-opening weekend.
Lemke said the team’s goal for the season is clear.
“Trying to win the whole thing again, like the other guys did last year,” he said. “Just to try our best. That’s the main thing.”
Individually, he added, he wants to win as much as he can for the team and encourage teammates to get better.
Steinberg said he also has high expectations for Lemke and other freshman players.
“They are very good players, and they have played all over the world for many years,” he said. “My expectations for this program are always high. We are playing for the national championship every year ,and they know that.”
He also said he just expects them to do things he asks them, and that they are buying into the team’s concept.
“The biggest expectation to put on them is that I want them to understand that we are playing for what this program is all about,” he said. “And they already know.”
After adding three freshmen to this season’s traveling team, no one is certain about how this fresh crew will play this season. However, Steinberg is sure about one thing: This is not a rebuilding year.
“I don’t believe in rebuilding,” he said. “I feel like our recruiting is great, and we brought in guys that can help us win it, and also the guys with great characters – that’s how we won last year. I’m not saying we are going to win it, but that’s definitely our goal.”
The men’s tennis team will open its home-game action Sunday when it hosts Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara in a double-header at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. The Waves face the Mustangs at 9:30 a.m. and play against the Gauchos at 1 p.m.
01-25-2007