Waves Travel to the Northwest
3/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
UPCOMING — No. 22 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (2-5) plays a make-up match against UC Irvine Tuesday, then travels to the Northwest to take on Washington and Boise State.
MATCH # 8 PEPPERDINE VS. UC IRVINE — Tues. (March 4) at 1 p.m., at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, in Malibu, Calif.
MATCH #9 PEPPERDINE VS. WASHINGTON — Fri. (March 7) at 3 p.m., at the at the Nordstrom Tennis Center, in Seattle, Wash.
MATCH #10 PEPPERDINE VS. BOISE STATE — Sun. (March 9) at 12 p.m., at the Appleton Tennis Center, in Boise, Idaho.
IRVINE — The No. 75 UC Irvine men’s tennis team (4-4), defeated UC Riverside, on Sat. (March 1), 6-1.
The Anteaters won the No.’s 1 - 5 singles matches and the doubles point.
WASHINGTON — The No. 27 University of Washington men’s tennis team (8-4) beat University of Oregon last week, 4-3 and No. 59 Denver, 5-2.
Senior Andy Kuharszky was named Pac-10 Men’s Tennis Player of the Week for Feb. 25 -- March 2. Kuharszky has 78 career singles wins.
BOISE STATE — The No. 41 Boise State men’s tennis team (8-8)defeated No. 38 William and Mary on Monday, March 3, 6-1.
The No. 55 doubles tam of Luke Shields and Clancy Shields defeated Alex Conjeau and Kezial Juneau (8-2) to secure the doubles point for Boise.
119th PACIFIC COAST DOUBLES TOURNAMENT RECAP — The finals match of the 119th Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championship, held on Sunday (March 2) in La Jolla, Calif., turned into an intra-squad competition for the Pepperdine men’s tennis team as the Waves No. 1 and No. 2 doubles team battled it out for the tournament title.
Senior Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and junior Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) defeated teammates, sophomore James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) and sophomore Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt), 3-6, 6-2,6-4, to become the 2008 Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Champions.
Taking home another title for the Waves, was freshman Alejandro Moreno (Queretaro, Mexico) and freshman Rikus de Villiers (South Africa), who teamed up to win the consolation round by defeating Vishnu Rajam and Hoony Shin of Rice University, 6-3, 6-4.
FLORIDA RECAP— In doubles action, Pepperdine won the doubles point after Lemke and partner Beidas defeated Barton/Hannui 8-5. Prior to the win, the Waves and Gators had split the doubles with Begemann and Altmann victorious in the No. 1 position with a win over Oullette/Dadamo, 8-3 and Florida winning the No. 3 doubles with Lacroix/Briceno defeating Brian Brogan (Los Gatos, Calif. / Los Gatos HS) and Johannes de Villiers (South Africa), 8-1.
No.16 ITA ranked Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) upset Florida’s No. 6 ITA ranked Greg Oullette, 6-2, 6-1, while James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) won the match clincher, to defeat Florida 4-3, on Monday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex, in Gainsville, Fla.
Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) won the No. 3 singles by defeating Alex Lacroix 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. The Waves (2-5) were leading the match 3-1, until the Gators (4-1) won the No. 6 singles to make the score 3-2. With two matches remaining, Pepperdine needed only one win to clinch the match. The No. 2 and No. 4 matches went to three sets with Nestor Briceno defeating Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4. It came down to the No. 4 match with Lemke playing a very competitive match against Jeff Dadamo that came down to the third set 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
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.
