Oct. 23, 2005

Malibu, Calif. - Despite the light rain throughout the tournament, the ITA Regionals hosted by Pepperdine University over the weekend proved to be successful and displayed the top-players at the Division 1 level in the West-South region. Pepperdine seniors Pedro Rico and Ivor Lovrak captured the doubles title, while Ben Kohlloeffel of UCLA won the singles championship.

Rico and Lovrak faced the No. 1-seed Ben Kohlloeffel and Phillip Gruendler of UCLA and fought back from a 4-1 deficit to defeat UCLA 9-7 in the semifinals. In the final match, the Wave duo faced another top-team from UCLA. This time it was Aaron Yovan and Mathieu Dehaine and in a close match, the Waves won the championship 8-6. With the win, the pair captured a wild card to the National Indoor Championship from November 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio.

Head Coach Adam Steinberg was exceptionally proud of his players. "Pedro and Ivor played great in the semifinals. It was a tough match against the No. 1 seed of UCLA and when they came back from the 4-1 deficit they kept their momentum and kept rolling. It's great to finish the tournament on a high note."

Kohlloeffel defeated Roger Matalonga of Arizona 6-1, 6-2 in the final match.

The Pepperdine men's tennis team is next in action at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships from November 3-6 held in Los Angeles, Calif.