Men's Tennis Looks to Win 18th Straight WCC Championship
4/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
UPCOMING — The No. 14 Pepperdine men’s tennis travels to Santa Clara, Calif., this weekend to compete in the WCC Championships. The Waves are 15-6 going into the tournament.
2008 WCC MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS -- April 18-20, at the Degheri Tennis Center, located on the Santa Clara University campus. The Waves are ranked No. 1 going into the WCC Men’s Tennis Championships.
WCC CHAMPIONSHIPS FIRST ROUND — Pepperdine meets No. 8 ranked Santa Clara University at 9 a.m, Friday (April 18) in the first round of the WCC Tournament.
ANDRE BEGEMANN NAMED PEPPERDINE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR—
Senior Andre Begemann was selected the 2008 Pepperdine Men’s Athlete of the Year, at the First Annual Student-Athlete Awards Banquet, held at the Warner Center Marriott, on Wednesday, April 9.
SANTA BARBARA RECAP — An amazing comeback in the second set by No. 3 singles Omar Altmann and five wins in singles, helped No. 13 Pepperdine defeat No. 60 UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The Waves (14-6) had no problem winning the doubles point over the Gauchos (11-7) with victories in all three matches. No. 1 doubles Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) recorded the first win over Philip Therp and Jack Hui (UCSB), 8-2. Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) and Rickus de Villiers (South Africa) claimed the No. 2 doubles by defeating Alexander Konigsfeldt and Josh Finklestein (UCSB), 8-4 and No. 3 doubles Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) and Brian Brogan (Los Gatos, Calif. / Los Gatos HS) notched a win against Taylor Chavez Goggin and Nigel Barton (UCSB), 8-5.
In singles, No. 22 ranked Beidas finished first for the Waves on the No. 2 court when Bijan Hejazi (UCSB) retired, 6-1, 4-0. Alex Moreno (Queretaro, Mexico) claimed the second singles win over Josh Finklestein (UCSB) on the No. 6 court, 6-1, 6-3. Kamel played a long match in No. 4 singles to finally prevail over Konigsfeldt (UCSB) 6-4, 6-4.
Altman won his first set on the No. 3 court, then struggled in the second set and was down 0-5 at one point. Altmann proceeded to win the next seven games to defeat Hui (UCSB), 6-4, 7-5.
Meanwhile on the No. 1 court, Begemann was having some difficulty defeating the Gaucho’s No. 1 player, Therp. Although, the No. 6 ITA ranked Wave won the first set 6-1,Therp came back to claim the second set, 6-4. The third set went 6-6 and a tie breaker eventually determined the winner with Begemann on top, 7-6 (4).
SAINT MARY’S RECAP — The Pepperdine men’s tennis team (14-6) won its 11th straight dual match Saturday, with a victory over Saint Mary’s, 6-1.
Three straight victories in the doubles gave the Waves a 1-0 lead over the Gaels (13-6) going into the singles portion of the match. Brian Brogan (Los Gatos/ Los Gatos HS) and Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) finished first on the No .3 court with a 8-3 victory over Andrea Zannoni and Youssef El Bouzkire (Saint Mary’s). Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) and Rickus de Villiers (South Africa) defeated Marek Dvorak and Achim Christner (Saint Mary’s) on court No 2, 8-4. The No. 18 ITA ranked team of Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) finished third with a win in No.1 doubles over Lucas Tirelli and Joel Kusnierz (Saint Mary’s).
Beidas won his 15th straight singles match on court No. 2 notching a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Tirelli (Saint Mary’s).
WAVES IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS — The Pepperdine men’s tennis team is ranked No. 14 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. 9. Sophomore Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) is ranked No. 32.
OMAR ALTMANN — 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. 32 Sophomore Bassam Beidas is currently on a 15 match winning streak for the 2008 season.. 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. 9 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.
ALTMAN/BEGEMANN — The doubles team of Andre Begemann and Omar Altmann is ranked No. 28 in the ITA doubles rankings. The Waves No.1 doubles team is 19-5 for the season and has one nine of its last ten matches.
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.
