Pepperdine University
Duke
#14 Duke Slips by #21 Pepperdine, 4-3
1/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 29, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. - The #21 Pepperdine men's tennis team nearly pulled off a thrilling upset over #14 Duke in the finals of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, but fell just short, losing 4-3. The Waves drop to 3-1 on the season, while the Blue Devils remain undefeated and advance to the ITA National Indoor Team Championships next month.
#35 Hugh Clarke (Brisbane, Australia) and Finn Tearney (Wellington, New Zealand) suffered an 8-4 loss to the #12-ranked Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha in the top doubles match, but Jenson Turner (Woodland Hills, Calif./Campbell Hall HS) and Sebastian Fanselow (Essen, Germany) tied the score with an 8-6 win in the No. 3 match.
With the doubles point still up for grabs, Alex Llompart (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and Alfredo Moreno (Queretaro, Mexico) were deadlocked at eight games apiece with Jared Pinsky and Fred Saba. Both pairs battled in the tie breaker, but the Blue Devils edged past the Waves, 10-8.
In singles, Duke extended its lead to 2-0 after a win in the No. 5 match. Llompart was the first to strike for Pepperdine, defeating #118 Chris Mengel 7-5, 6-2. Llompart has yet to lose in dual match play this season, and boasts an overall record of 12-3.
The Blue Devils scored next, however, following a Saba win at No. 4 to take a 3-1 lead.
Fanselow, who is ranked #14 in the Campbell/ITA collegiate rankings, took a 6-4 first-set win from #9 Cunha, but was unable to put the match away and bowed out in the third frame. The Cunha win put the fourth and deciding point on the board for Duke.
Both Tearney and Moreno had split the first two sets with their respective opponents, and played their matches out. With the dual clinched, both matches played a deciding tie breaker set. Tearney upset #5 Carleton 16-14 in the tiebreaker, while Moreno topped Luke Marchese 10-7.
Tearney joins Llompart as the only other Wave to be a perfect 4-0 in dual match play this season. He boasts a team-best singles win tally of 15.
Pepperdine returns to action on Sat., Feb. 5 for a West Coast Conference home doubleheader featuring Loyola Marymount at 10 a.m. and Santa Clara at 2:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
