Men's Tennis Heads to Stanford for NCAAs
5/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
THE FACTS - The #21 Pepperdine men's tennis team, following its 20th consecutive West Coast Conference title, begins NCAA postseason play this weekend with the first and second rounds at Stanford.
FIRST ROUND - Saturday (May 15) at the Taube Tennis Center in Palo Alto, Calif.: #21 Pepperdine (16-10) vs. #37 Hawaii (12-7) at 9 a.m. It's followed by #7 Stanford (18-5) vs. Quinnipiac (10-4) at noon.
SECOND ROUND - The winners of the first-round matches will play on Sunday (May 16) at 12 p.m.
2010 NCAA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS - Sixteen teams will advance to the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., from May 21-25.
2010 NCAA SINGLES/DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS - The NCAA previously announced that Bassam Beidas qualified for the singles tournament, as did the team of Beidas and Alex Llompart in doubles. The NCAA singles and doubles championships will follow the team competition in Athens from May 26-31.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY - Pepperdine, the 2006 NCAA champion, is making its 21st consecutive NCAA postseason appearance (13th straight not including regionals). The Waves have a 50-32 record since the tournament went to a dual-match format. In addition to their NCAA title, they placed second in 1982 and 1986, third in 1984 and fourth in 1980 and 1983. Pepperdine has won its first-round match every year since 1998 and has advanced to the Round of 16 six times during that span.
HAWAII/STANFORD/QUINNIPIAC - Pepperdine has been sent to Palo Alto for first and second round play for the second straight year. The Waves and the Warriors have met in NCAA play once before, a first-round victory by Pepperdine in Malibu in 2008. This could be the third straight year that Pepperdine and Stanford meet in the second round (the Waves won in Malibu in 2008, the Cardinal won in Palo Alto in 2009). The Waves have a 2-4 record against the Cardinal in the NCAA Tournament. Pepperdine and Quinnipiac have never faced each other.
ITA RANKINGS - Pepperdine is currently ranked #21 as a team, and has been as high as #13 and as low as #30. In singles, Bassam Beidas is #32 and Sebastian Fanselow is #70. In doubles, the team of Beidas and Alex Llompart is #27.
WCC CHAMPIONSHIPS - Pepperdine won its 20th consecutive WCC title and 41st overall with three straight wins in San Diego from April 23-25. The Waves swept both Gonzaga and San Francisco by the score of 4-0 before beating Santa Clara 4-1 in the final. Since the conference went to its current team dual-match format in 1995, the Waves are a perfect 48-0 at the WCC Championships.
ALL-WCC HONORS - Bassam Beidas was the 2010 WCC Player of the Year, Sebastian Fanselow was the Freshman of the Year and Adam Steinberg was Coach of the Year. Beidas gave the Waves the WCC Player of the Year for the 13th time in the 13 years it has been awarded. Steinberg earned coaching honors for the fifth time. Beidas and Fanselow were All-WCC first team in singles, while Alex Llompart was on the second team and Mousheg Hovhannisyan and Finn Tearney were honorable mention. Beidas and Llompart were first team in doubles, and Tearney and Hugh Clarke were on the second team.
OTHER HONORS - Pepperdine won WCC Player of the Month awards in singles in March (Sebastian Fanselow) and April (Bassam Beidas). The Waves won the doubles award in each of the three months it was given: Alex Llompart and Finn Tearney in February, Beidas and Llompart in March and Hugh Clarke and Tearney in April.
BASSAM BEIDAS - Senior Bassam Beidas (Cairo, Egypt) is bringing one of the top careers in Pepperdine history to a close this month. He will compete in the NCAA singles tournament for the fourth time and the doubles event for the second time. He earned All-American honors in 2008 in singles and 2009 in doubles. Beidas has a career singles record of 109-35 (75-26 in duals). He is just the second Pepperdine player to earn All-WCC first team honors in singles four times since the awards were introduced in 1998 (Pedro Rico, 2003-06). His doubles record is just as impressive, with a 90-31 record (76-25 in duals). He earned All-WCC honors in doubles for the third time in 2010 (second time on the first team).
ADAM STEINBERG - Head coach of the 2006 NCAA champions and the ITA National Coach of the Year, Adam Steinberg is now in his eighth season at Pepperdine. He is the Waves' second all-time winningest head coach with a record of 175-60 (.745). In 18 seasons as a head coach that included stops at St. John's and Alabama, he is 305-139 (.687). He is a five-time WCC Coach of the Year and his players at Pepperdine have earned 12 All-American awards, as well as 21 All-WCC first team honors in singles and 12 in doubles.
MEN'S TENNIS HISTORY - One of Pepperdine's most successful programs, the men's tennis team has won both NCAA (2006) and NAIA (1952) championships. Among its notable alums are Brad Gilbert, who had a very successful playing and coaching career, and Simon Aspelin, who won the doubles title at the 2007 U.S. Open and a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics. Robbie Weiss won the 1988 NCAA singles title and Kelly Jones won a pair of NCAA doubles titles with Jerome Jones in 1984 and Carlos DiLaura in 1985.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE - Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men's sports - one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine's teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.
