Men's Tennis Meets Cal Poly Thursday
2/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
February 4, 2008
UPCOMING — No. 17 Pepperdine men’s tennis team plays its first home matches of the season this week. The Waves return to Malibu after a tough road trip to Michigan and Ohio State, last week.
MATCH # 4 PEPPERDINE VS. SAN LUIS OBISPO — Thurs. (Feb.7) at 1 p.m., at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, in Malibu, Calif.
MATCH #5 PEPPERDINE VS. ALABAMA — Sat. (Feb. 9) at 1 p.m., at the at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, in Malibu, Calif.
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly San Lis Obispo men’s tennis team (3-1), defeated the Portland Pilots, on Sat. (Feb. 2), 5-2.
ALABAMA — The No. 13 Alabama men’s tennis team (4-0), defeated Georgia, on Sat (Feb. 2) 6-1.
Senior Joseph Jung has had three straight 20-win seasons under the guidance of Crimson Tide Coach Bill Pate.
Pepperdine Coach Adam Steinberg, coached at Alabama prior to coming to Pepperdine.
UCLA RECAP— The Pepperdine men’s tennis team won the doubles point, but was defeated by UCLA in five out of six singles matches (5-2) on Tuesday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, located in Westwood, Calif.
Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) and Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) defeated the UCLA’s No. 1 doubles team of Nick Meister and Harel Srugo, 8-5. The No. 2 doubles team of Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) and James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) defeated Mathieu Dehaine and Holden Seguso, 8-4 and in a closely contested match for the No. 3 doubles, Johannes de Villiers (South Africa) and Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) were defeated in a tie-breaker by Jeremy Drean and Michael Look, 8-4.
Pepperdine’s lone winner in the singles division was Altmann, who defeated Michael Look, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5.
MICHIGAN RECAP — No. 16 Pepperdine men’s tennis team suffered an upset to No. 22 University of Michigan, Friday evening in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 4-3.
No.1 singles Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) defeated Matko Maravic 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3) and No. 2 singles Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) defeated Jason Jung, 6-1, 6-2. Playing in the No. 5 singles position, Mahomoud Kamel (Paris,France) defeated George Navas, 7-5, 6-2, to tie the match 3-3.
Michigan clinched the match when its No. 4 singles player Andrew Mazlin defeated Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
OHIO STATE RECAP — The No. 16 Pepperdine men’s tennis team fell to No. 3 Ohio State, 5-2, Sunday morning, at the OSU Varsity Tennis Center, in Columbus, Ohio.
The Waves won two out of six of the singles matches. No. 22 Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) defeated No. 60 Steven Moneke in No. 2 singles, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 and Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) won the No. 5 singles match over No. 95 Drew Eberly, 6-4, 7-6.
In doubles, Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) and Begemann were the lone winners for Pepperdine, by defeating No. 29 Eberly and Justin Kronauge, 8-5.
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.
