No. 8 Waves Hold off No. 16 Stanford
4/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 12, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - The No. 8 ranked Pepperdine men's tennis team defeated No. 16 Stanford at the Taube Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon, 4-3. The win marks the 12th in a row for the Waves as they conclude their regular season with an 18-2 mark.
The Waves captured the doubles point by sweeping all three doubles matches to start the afternoon. At the No. 1 doubles position, the No. 9 ranked duo of Pedro Rico and Scott Doerner upset the No. 3 ranked tandem of senior Sam Warburg and junior KC Corkery, 9-8. The match up at the No. 2 doubles spot was just as close, as Phil Sheng and Jon Wong fell to Jonas Berg and Ivor Lovrak 9-8. Pepperdine's Kevin Borzenski and Richard Johnson closed out the doubles sweep at the No. 3 position, topping Eric McKean and James Wan 8-5.
In all 20 of the Waves' regular season matches they claimed a 1-0 lead. Head coach Adam Steinberg points to the stat as a huge credit to the team's success. "Doubles has been the key for us all year, and it helped us again today. It's an amazing accomplishment to win the doubles point in every match and I'm really proud of the guys."
The Waves took singles wins from the bottom half of their lineup at the four, five and six positions. Quickly building on their 1-0 lead Richard Johnson beat McKean at number five (6-1, 6-1) and Alexis Rafidison bested Phil Kao (6-0, 6-3) as the Waves came up 3-0.
The Cardinal then took wins at one and three as No. 2 Sam Warburg beat No. 13 Pedro Rico (6-4, 6-2) and James Wan took out Jonas Berg (6-3, 6-4). Ivor Lovrak held off a second-set comeback attempt from Phil Sheng to give the Waves the win with his 6-3, 7-6 victory.
"This was a great win for our program, to beat a team and a program like they have," said Steinberg, "This is a huge stepping stone for us."
Following the decision of the match at 4-2, No. 46 Scott Doerner fell in his third set to No. 18 KC Corkery, 1-6, 7-6, 6-1.
Up next for the Waves are the West Coast Conference Championships. Pepperdine will have the luxury of hosting the event and defending their crown at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. The 14-time defending WCC champions will look for number 15 Friday, April 22 through Sunday, April 24.
No. 8 Pepperdine 4, No. 16 Stanford 3
Doubles (Pepperdine wins doubles point)
1. #9 Rico/Doerner (Pepperdine) def. #3 Warburg/Corkery (Stanford) - 9-8
2. Berg/Lovrak (Pepperdine) def. Sheng/Wong (Stanford) - 9-8
3. Borzenski/Johnson (Pepperdine) def. McKean/Wan (Stanford) - 8-5
Singles
1. #2 Sam Warburg (Stanford) def. #13 Pedro Rico (Pepperdine) - 6-4, 6-2
2. #18 KC Corkery (Stanford) def. #46 Scott Doerner (Pepperdine) - 1-6, 7-6, 6-1
3. James Wan (Stanford) def. Jonas Berg (Pepperdine) - 6-3, 6-4
4. Ivor Lovrak (Pepperdine) def. Phil Sheng (Stanford) - 6-3, 7-6
5. Richard Johnson (Pepperdine) def. Eric McKean (Stanford) - 6-1, 6-1
6. Alexis Rafidison (Pepperdine) def. Phil Kao (Stanford) - 6-0, 6-3
