Waves Face Baylor Wednesday in Malibu
3/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
UPCOMING — The No. 43 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (4-6) is at home this week. The Waves will face two nationally ranked teams.
MATCH # 11 PEPPERDINE VS. BAYLOR — Weds. (March 12) at 1 p.m., at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, in Malibu, Calif.
MATCH #12 PEPPERDINE VS. TEXAS A&M — Sat. (March 15) at 11 a.m., at the at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, in Malibu, Calif.
ABOUT BAYLOR — No. 11 Baylor University (10-5) was defeated by No. 10 USC (March 9), 4-1.
Among the Bear’s top players are No. 10 Denes Lukacs and No. 15 Lars Poerschke. Playing in the No. 5 singles position for Baylor, Dominik Mueller is 13-1 for dual matches this season.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M — No. 19 Texas A&M (6-4), defeated No. 29 TCU (March 8), 4-3.
No. 31 Colin Pollock defeated No. 21 Cosmin Cotet (No. 1 singles), to lead the Aggies to victory in four of the six singles matches.
IRVINE RECAP — With six wins over UC Irvine (4-5) and one match to go, the Pepperdine men’s tennis team (3-5), gathered together to cheer teammate Rickus de Villiers to victory in the No. 6 singles match. De Villiers prevailed to help the Waves defeat the Anteaters, 7-0, Tuesday afternoon at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif.
WASHINGTON RECAP — In a close match that began outside and ended inside due to inclement weather, the Pepperdine men’s tennis team was narrowly defeated by University of Washington,4-3, Friday afternoon in Seattle, Washington.
No. 43 Pepperdine won the doubles point over No. 28 Washington with victories by Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) over Jeevan Nedunchezhiya and Patrik Fisher, 8-5, in No. 1 doubles and James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) and Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) over Andy Kuharszky and Derek Drabble, 9-7, in No. 2 doubles.
The Waves struggled in the singles competition with the Huskies taking the No.1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 matches. No. 19 Begemman won the No. 2 singles match with a defeat over No. 82 Nedunchezhiya, 6-2, 6-2 and was the first match to finish giving Pepperdine a 2-0 lead over Washington. However, the Huskies fought back and won the next four matches. Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) defeated Ryo Sekiguchi in the final match of the day, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
BOISE STATE RECAP — Andre Begemann’s victory over Boise State’s Luke Shields in the final match of the day clinched the victory for Pepperdine’s men’s tennis team over Boise State, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon in Boise, Idaho.
The Waves (4-6) lost the doubles point to the Bulldogs (9-9) after suffering defeats in No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) and Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) defeated Paul Koenke and Eric Roberson in No. 2 doubles, 8-6.
Boise won No. 5 singles to take a 2-0 lead over the Waves. However, Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) answered back finishing the second singles match of the day by defeating Eric Roberson 6-4, 7-5, in No. 6 singles. Beidas followed suit with a victory in No. 2 singles over Clancy Shields, 7-6, 6-4, to tie the match for Pepperdine, 2-2.
Lemke gave the Waves the lead with a win over Robertson, 2-6 ,6-2, 6-3, in the No. 4 singles match. Boise fought back to tie the score once again, with a victory in No. 3 singles, bringing it all down the final match in No. 1 singles. After a tie breaker in the third set, Begemann emerged victorious 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
WAVES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS — The Pepperdine men’s tennis team is ranked No. 43 in the nation, according to the ITA rankings, released in March 2008.
Individually, three Waves made the top 100 collegiate singles player rankings. Senior Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) is No. 19. Sophomore Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) is ranked No. 25. and junior Omar Altmann is ranked No. 97.
OMAR ALTMANN — No. 97 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. 19 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 — 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.
