SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
After losing five straight games on the road, the Pepperdine men’s tennis team came back home and won four matches in a row. However, the Waves were unable to capture its fifth straight victory at home as Mother Nature canceled Tuesday’s match against No.-2 Ohio State.
Tuesday’s rain saved No.-20 Pepperdine, with a record of 1-5 to Top 10 teams this season, from a possible loss to the second best team in the nation. However, sophomore player Omar Altmann said he was disappointed that the match was rained out.
“It was probably our biggest home match of the year, and we had been looking forward to it all season playing this team,” he said. “It’s a bit of a bummer that we didn’t get to play today.”
The Waves picked up their ninth straight win at home for the season when they upset then-No.-12 Texas 5-2 on March 15 and extended their homecourt-winning streak to 52 matches.
The team holds a 9-0 record at home, while it is 2-6 on the road. Altmann said there are some significant differences between playing at home and on the road.
“Playing at home, we have the homecourt advantage, and we have fans,” he said. “If you look at the games we lost, they are almost all top-10 teams. And I don’t think it had to do with playing home or away. We just played really good and competitive teams.”
This week, the team is competing in Hawaii. Since the Waves stayed in Malibu during the spring break, perhaps this may be their late spring break. But Altmann’s focus is on upcoming matches.
“Everyone thinks we are going to lay down on the beach and stuff, but we have to take care of the business first,” he said.
During the trip to the Aloha state, Pepperdine faces Hawaii on Thursday and Cal on Friday.
03-22-2007