Waves Host Saint Mary's Saturday
4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
UPCOMING — The No. 17 Pepperdine men’s tennis team closes out its regular season play this Monday with a big match against UCLA. Monday is Senior Day at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. The Waves will honor Omar Altmann as he plays his last home match of his collegiate career against UCLA. Free Pizza for all the fans.
MATCH #23 — PEPPERDINE VS. SAINT MARY’S (April 11, @ 1 p.m.) at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The Gaels (7-14) are coming off a 5-2 loss to Montana last week. Saint Mary’s is led by its No. 1 singles player Lucas Tirelli. Michael Wayman has coached the Gaels for 14 years.
MATCH #24 — PEPPERDINE VS. UCLA (April 13, @ 3 p.m.) at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The No. 9 Bruins travel to Pepperdine for a make-up match that was cancelled in February due to inclement weather. UCLA is in a close battle with USC to see who will be this year’s Pac-10 champion. Both teams are 4-0 in conference play.
The Bruins have three nationally ranked singles players: No. 45 Haythem Abid, No. 95 Matt Brooklyn and No. 114 Nick Meister. In doubles Meister/Abid are ranked No. 21 and Amit Inbar/Harel Srugo hold the No. 61 ranking.
UCLA is coached by Billie Martin, who is in his 16th season as head coach for the Bruins.
CALIFORNIA RECAP — Having to play at an indoor club in San Francisco due to inclement weather, Bassam Beidas led the No. 17 Pepperdine men’s tennis team to a 4-3 win over No. 37 California on Tuesday afternoon.
No. 10 Beidas and Omar Altmann extended their winning streak to seven with an 8-1 victory over No. 13 Geoff Chizever and Pedro Zerbini (Cal). Unfortunately, losses on courts 2 and 3 cost the Waves (15-8) the doubles-point.
The singles competition turned into a battle as Bohzhidar Katsarov (CAL) defeated Hughe Clarke (PEP), 6-2, 6-4, on court 5 to give the Golden Bears (9-8) a 2-0 lead.
No. 43 Altman (PEP) finished second on court 2 with a straight set victory over Eoin Heavey (CAL), 6-2, 6-3 to give the Waves their first point at 2-1. Alex Llompart (PEP) notched his third straight singles win with a 6-3, 6-4, victory over Nick Andrews (CAL) on court 3. The score was tied at 2-2. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Kamel (PEP) took care of business on court 4 with a 6-4, 6-4, win over Thai Tu (Cal), to give the Waves the lead at 3-2. Cal responded with a win on court 6 to tie the score at 3-3.
No. 32 Beidas (PEP) and No. 81 Pedro Zerbini (CAL) headed into their third set to determine the team winner. Zerbini had won the first set 2-6, while Beidas took the second set, 6-4. Beidas prevailed in the third set with a 6-3 win and clinched the match for the Waves.
PEPPERDINE IN THE POLLS — The Waves are No. 17 for the second straight week according to the latest ITA national rankings.
MARCH WCC PLAYERS OF THE MONTH — Bassam Beidas/Omar Altmann earned WCC Men’s Tennis Doubles Players of the Month for March. The duo went 7-1 for the month at No. 1 doubles with wins over the No. 6 and No. 15 ranked doubles teams in the country. Beidas was named WCC Men’s Tennis Singles Player of the Month along with Dean Jackson of San Diego. Beidas went 6-2 for the month of March at the No. 1 singles position.
ITA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS — Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) holds the No. 32 ranking in singles while teammate Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) is ranked No. 43.
ALTMANN/BEIDAS — The doubles team of Omar Altmann and Bassam Beidas is ranked No. 14 in the nation with a 20-3 record.
2008 ALL AMERICANS — Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and Bassam Beidas were named as 2008 All-Americans after finishing in the top 16 at the NCAA Nationals. Begemann made it to the semi-finals, while Beidas reached the quarterfinals.
COACH STEINBERG — Coach Adam Steinberg is in his seventh year as head coach. His 2006 Waves won the national championship. His team has won six WCC championships and has made six NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2006 he was named National Coach of the Year and has been named WCC Coach of the Year three times.
Coach Steinberg has had 10 players named All-American and have been All-WCC first team selections 16 times in singles and 10 times in doubles. A Pepperdine athlete has been named WCC Player of the Year in each of his seven seasons.
COACH CARLESS — Coach Nick Carless begins his second season as assistant coach. Coach Carless began his
career at Pepperdine as a volunteer assistant coach for the 2006 national championship team. He spent one year at Northwestern University as an assistant coach in 2006-07, before returning to Malibu.
PEPPERDINE HISTORY — Pepperdine men’s tennis was first established in 1940. The team’s all-time WCC record is 985-331. The Waves have won a total of 38 WCC Tournament titles and are on an 17 title streak. Pepperdine has made 33 NCAA appearances with the last being in 2008. The Waves have made a showing in the last 19 NCAA tournaments.
WAVES IN THE PRO’S — Pepperdine has produced remarkably talented players who moved on to professional careers as players and coaches.
Three-time All-American Andre Begemann is the most recent to turn professional after graduating from Pepperdine in August, 2008. He is currently ranked No. 426 in the world and continues to move-up.
Brad Gilbert and Glenn Michibata are two of the most well-known players who came about in the 1980’s. A 1982 All-American, Gilbert has been ranked as high as No. 4 in the world in 1990. As a coach, Gilbert is known as one of the best guiding both Andre Agassi and Any Roddick to Grand Slam titles. A three-time All-American, Michibata spent 10 years as a professional and climbed as high as No. 48 in 1986. He is currently in his ninth year as head coach at Princeton.
Robbie Weiss holds the distinction of being Pepperdine’s lone NCAA singles champion in 1988, turned pro and was a top 100 player. In 2008, Weiss was inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame as well as the Pepperdine Hall of Fame. Kelly Jones was a part of both of Pepperdine’s NCAA doubles titles and as a professional, Jones achieved the No. 1 doubles ranking with Rick Leach in 1992. He was a finalist in three Grand Slam doubles events, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.
Simon Aspelin (1994-97) of Sweden was a four-time All-American and has won 10 career titles and was part of the 2007 U.S. Open winning doubles team. Aspelin and Swiss teammate Thomas Johansson took home the silver medal at the 2008 Bejing Olympics after being defeated by Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the finals.
