Feb. 25, 2005

Waco, Tex. - The No. 16 Pepperdine men's tennis team came within points of knocking off the No. 1 Baylor Bears in Waco, Tex. Friday night. The Waves could not quite pull off the upset as they fell 4-3.

Giving the Bears all they could handle, Pepperdine took the doubles point and the numbers three and five singles points.  Despite the decision going the Bears' way Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg was very satisfied with his team's performance.  "We took a lot of great things away from this match." 

With the score tied at three all, the number six match between Baylor's Vladimir Portnov and Pepperdine's Alexis Rafidison moved into the third set. Leads were exchanged as both players grabbed and relinquished momentum as if on cue. Portnov took two games to start the set, then Rafidison claimed three and the 3-2 lead. The home crowd behind him fueled the Russian on to four consecutive games and the clinching victory.

Pepperdine's three points on the scorecard came in large part to Ivor Lovrak and Jonas Berg. After teaming to clinch the doubles point on court two, each won their singles match. Lovrak, who played two years at Baylor before coming to Malibu beat Michal Kokta, 7-6(3), 6-4. Berg upset No. 93 Matija Zgaga 6-3, 6-4 on court three.

Scott Doerner suffered his first loss of the year in the form of a 6-2, 6-2 besting by No. 44 Benhamin Becker, while No. 24 Pedro Rico was held off by ninth-ranked Benedikt Dorsch, 6-1, 6-4. Together Rico and Doerner (No. 21) were upset by Dorsch/Zgaga 8-4 before Richard Johnson and Kevin Borzenski put their stamp on Becker and partner Jon Reckewey, 8-3.

Johnson put up a good fight in his singles match, falling in the first set 7-5, but the depth of the Bears lineup was too much as the Bears' No. 19 Lars Poerschke won the second set 6-2 to take the number four point.

"(Assistant coach Per Nilsson) and I both believe that playing at this level with this kind of intensity is something we're very capable of," Steinberg contends that the Waves' performance against the country's top team proves to his players what he's been telling them all year.  "Now they know they can win a national championship."

Pepperdine is now 6-2 on the year as Baylor stays undefeated at 9-0. The Waves will be in Dallas Saturday to take on No. 38 Southern Methodist at 11:00 a.m. PST.