Waves on the Road to Florida
2/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
UPCOMING — No. 21 Pepperdine men’s tennis team heads to Florida this week to take on two very competitive Florida teams.
MATCH # 6 PEPPERDINE VS. No. 14 FLORIDA STATE — Sat. (Feb.23) at 10 a.m., at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center, in Tallahassee, Fla.
MATCH #7 PEPPERDINE VS. FLORIDA — Mon. (Feb. 25) at 12 p.m., at the Ring Tennis Complex, in Gainsville, Fla.
FLORIDA STATE — Florida State University men’s tennis team has made it to the NCAA Tournament five consecutive times.
Freshman Clint Bowles, one of the nation’s top recruits, madehis ATP Tour debut on Feb. 11. Bowles lost to Chile’s Paul Capdeville 6-2, 6-4, at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.
The Seminoles are coming off a loss to No. 19 University of Florida (Feb. 9) 5-2.
Florida State is coached by Dwayne Hultquist, who is in his ninth season with the Seminoles.
FLORIDA — The No. 19 University of Florida men’s tennis team has played in 17 consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
This year’s roster includes five members of the 2007 team that reached the NCAA Round of 16 before being eliminated by the eventual champion Georgia.
The Gators (4-0) upset No. 14 Florida State last week.
Florida’s head coach is Andy Jackson, who is in his seventh season with the Gators.
SAN LUIS OBISPO RECAP — The No. 21 Pepperdine men’s tennis team picked up its first season win Thursday afternoon, against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (4-2), at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif.
The win marked the 58th consecutive home win for the Waves (1-3). Pepperdine won the doubles point will all three teams recording victories over the Mustangs (3-2).
"It was good to play at home," said sophomore James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia). "Everyone played a bit better today as well."
In singles, the Waves captured the first four matches with No. 13 Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) defeating Joel Akerber, 6-3, 6-2, in No.1 singles. No. 2 singles was won by No.66 Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt), who defeated Andrew Gerst, 6-4, 6-4 and No. 73 Lemke took the No. 3 singles with a win over Darryn Young, 6-1, 6-0. Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) brought home the No. 4 singles victory by defeating Blake Wardman, 6-3, 6-3.
ALABAMA RECAP — The Pepperdine men’s tennis team was defeated by one point, Saturday afternoon, by University of Alabama (4-3), at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The Waves (1-4) lost their first home match after 58 straight wins at their home venue.
Alabama (5-0) won the doubles point with victories in the No.1 and No. 3 doubles, while Pepperdine was only able to capture No. 2 doubles when Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) and James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) defeated Andrew Felsenthal and Saketh Myneni, 8-4.
The match between Alabama and Pepperdine came down to the No. 6 singles match between Johannes de Villiers (South Africa) and Javier Bes. Bes prevailed, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, to clinch the team title for Alabama.
No. 22 Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) defeated Mathew Thibaudeau, 6-1, 6-4, in No. 1 singles. Lemke won the No. 3 singles against Sammy Struyf, 6-1, 6-3 and Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) prevailed over Billie Mertz, 6-4, 6-1.
WAVES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS — The Pepperdine men’s tennis team is ranked No. 16 in the nation, according to the ITA rankings, released in Jan. 2008.
Individually, three Waves made the top 100 collegiate singles player rankings. Sophomore Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) is ranked No. 13. Senior Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) is No. 22, and junior Omar Altmann is ranked No. 66. Sophomore James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) holds the No. 73 spot.
OMAR ALTMANN — No. 66 junior Omar Altmann and teammate James Lemke claimed the championship title of the doubles division at the 51st Southern California Intercollegiate Championships this fall.
Altmann advanced to the finals of the 51st Southern California Intercollegiate Championships, before being defeated by teammate, Lemke. Altmann finished the fall season with a 5-4 singles record and a 4-1 doubles record.
BASSAM BEIDAS — No. 13 Sophomore Bassam Beidas was named 2007 WCC Freshman of the Year. Beidas qualified for the ITA Indoor Championships after winning the consolation round of the ITA Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championship. He advanced to the quarterfinals of ITA Indoor Championships after defeating nationally ranked Erling Tveit (Miss.).
Beidas finished the season with a 7-3 singles record and a 3-1 doubles record.
ANDRE BEGEMANN — No. 22 Senior Andre Begemann was tabbed a 2007 All-American. Begemann claimed the ITA Division I Regional Singles Title this Fall, after the tournament was forced to relocate from Malibu to USC and UCLA due to wildfires. Begemann finished the fall season with a 7-3 singles record and 4-1 doubles record, with partner Omar Altmann.
JAMES LEMKE — No. 73 James Lemke won the singles title at the 51st Southern California Intercollegiate Championships after defeating teammate Omar Altmann, this fall. Lemke and Altmann paired up to claim the double title at the same tournament.
Lemke finished the fall season with a 10-1 singles record and a 7-3 doubles record.
COACH ADAM STEINBERG — Coach Adam Steinberg begins his sixth season as the head coach for the Pepperdine men’s tennis team. As head of the program, he has led the Waves to an overall record of 96-25, with five consecutive conference championships and postseason appearances.
Steinberg led the Waves to its first National Tiltle and the University’s ninth overall after upsetting Georgia, 4-2, in the final match.
ASSISTANT COACH NICK CARLESS — Coach Carless was a volunteer assistant coach for Pepperdine men’s tennis team that won the NCAA championship in 2006.
Carless spent last year coaching at Northwestern as an assistant coach.
THE RALPHS STRAUS CENTER — The Ralphs Strauss Center is home to the Pepperdine men’s tennis team. The center consists of a nine court, fully lighted facility with seating for approximately 2,000 spectators.
In 1995, the Center served as the host site for the 1995 and 2000 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships.
The Center is known for its beautiful spectator patio that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
WAVES IN THE PRO’S — Pepperdine alum Brad Gilbert, a 1982 All-American, won 20 major tournaments as a professional and was ranked as high a No. 4 in the world in 1990. Gilbert went on to coach Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to Grand Slam titles and is currently coaching Britains Andy Murray.
Glen Michibata was a three-time All-American for Pepperdine. He played professional tennis for ten years rising to No. 48 in the world in 1986. He is currently in his eighth year as Princeton’s head men’s tennis coach.
Robbie Weiss won the only NCAA singles title for Pepperdine in 1988. Weiss went on to play professionally and earn a top 100 ranking.
Winning two NCAA doubles titles for the Waves, Kelly Jones teamed up with Jerome Jones in 1984 and again in 1985 with Carlos Dilaura. As a professional, Jones was ranked No. 1 in the World with Rick Leach in 1992 and was a finalist in three Grand Slam events in doubles, including Wimbledon, the U.S. and the Australian Open.
Four-time All-American Simon Aspelin has won six career titles in doubles and is currently ranked No. 19 in the world. Aspelin won the 2007 U.S. Open double title with Julian Knowle in 2007. The win gave Aspelin a career-high No. 13 ranking.
