Waves Compete on Both Coasts to Open Month of November
11/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Nov. 1, 2011
MALIBU, Calif. - Five members of the Pepperdine men's tennis team will be in action this weekend, albeit on opposite coasts. Finn Tearney and Sebastian Fanselow will be competing in Flushing, N.Y. at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, while Hugh Clarke, David Sofaer and Kento Tanaka-Tamaki play at the Southern California Intercollegiate in Los Angeles.
Qualifying for the So Cal Intercollegiate begins on Wednesday, Nov. 2 with main draw singles and doubles running Nov. 3-6. The first round of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships kicks off on Thursday, followed by two more rounds of singles on Friday. Semifinals will be contested on Saturday with the championship matches concluding the event on Sunday.
USTA/ITA NATIONAL INDOORS - The USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, is the only event on the ITA calendar featuring elite players from every level of college tennis.
Hosted by Columbia University, the tournament features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women. Heading the field are champions from USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College "Super Bowl," and the singles quarterfinalists, doubles finalists and consolation champions from the ITA Men's and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships.
Sebastian Fanselow earned the ITA wildcard invitation to the 32-player singles bracket, while Finn Tearney received an at-large bid due to his semifinal appearance in regionals two weeks ago. Fanselow, ranked #10 in the Campbell/ITA preseason singles poll, will face Tsvetan Mihov of Oklahoma in the first round. Tearney is set for a rematch with #2-ranked Blaz Rola of Ohio State. The two last played each other in the second round of the 2011 NCAA Singles Championships.
Full coverage of the national event can be found on the ITA website.
SO CAL INTERCOLLEGIATE - Players from area schools, including UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UCLA, Concordia, Azusa Pacific, San Diego, Loyola Marymount, USC and BYU converge at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the campus of UCLA for the five-day event.
Kento Tanaka-Tamaki opens play at the So Cal Intercollegiate in the singles qualifying draw on Wednesday morning. He'll first face UC San Diego's Deven Sousa and need one more win to gain entry to the main draw.
Hugh Clarke, the tournament's No. 5 seed, as well as David Sofaer are competing in the main draw singles bracket on Thursday. The pair will also compete on the doubles court, and are listed as the No. 3 seed.
For complete draws, click here.
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THE LAST TIME... - ... Hugh Clarke and David Sofaer played doubles together they won the title at the Battle in the Bay Classic on Oct. 16. Clarke was the runner up champion in the singles main draw, while Sofaer finished second in the consolation singles bracket.
LOOKING BACK - Pepperdine hosted the USTA/ITA Div. I Men's Southwest Regional Championships at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Oct. 20-24. Finn Tearney and Hugh Clarke advanced to the semifinals of the doubles bracket, while Tearney was one of four players left standing in the singles draw.
ITA ALL-AMERICAN RECAP - Four members of the Pepperdine men's tennis team, including Mousheg Hovhannisyan, Jenson Turner, Finn Tearney and Sebastian Fanselow gained entry to the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. Hovhannisyan tallied three-straight wins in qualifying to earn a spot in the singles main draw. Fanselow reached the consolation singles final but suffered a loss, narrowly missing out on the automatic bid to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in Flushing, N.Y. next month.
UP NEXT - The Waves wrap up the fall tournament season in Sarasota, Florida on Nov. 11-13 when select members will compete at the Lakewood Ranch Clay Court Intercollegiate Classic.
RANKINGS - In singles, four members of the Pepperdine squad earned a spot on the Campbells/ITA Collegiate Rankings, including Sebastian Fanselow (#10), Finn Tearney (#19), Jenson Turner (#98) and Mousheg Hovhannisyan (#111). In doubles Fanselow and Turner are listed at #11, while Tearney and Hugh Clarke are ranked #14.
WHO'S BACK — The Waves have seven letterwinners back from the 2010-11 squad including All-American Sebastian Fanselow. All-WCC singles selections Alex Llompart and Finn Tearney are also back, although Llompart is taking the fall off and will not join the team until January. Other players back include Hugh Clarke, Mousheg Hovhannisyan, Jenson Turner and Daniel Moss.
WHO'S NEW — The Waves welcome Hawai'i native Kento Tanaka-Tamaki to the roster this season. Tanaka-Tamaki had a standout prep school career at St. Anthony Junior-Senior High School. He was a four-year varsity member with a career singles record of 50-5, and was named the Maui Interscholastic League Player of the Year on three occasions. As a senior, he was the state runner-up champion on the singles court.
Adam Steinberg — Now in his 10th season as head coach of the Waves, Adam Steinberg enters the 2011 season with a career record of 324-145 (.691) including a 180-61 (.747) mark at Pepperdine. Since setting foot on the Malibu campus in 2003, Steinberg has captured eight WCC conference championships, eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and an NCAA Championship crown in 2006. He has tutored 15 Waves to All-American status, and has been named WCC Coach of the Year five times. Prior to coming to Pepperdine, Steinberg served as the head coach at Alabama and St. John's for five seasons apiece.
2011 RECAP — The Waves finished the 2011 dual season with a 18-5 record and concluded the season ranked #15 in the Campbells/ITA Collegiate Rankings. Pepperdine defeated two top-10 ranked teams including #4 Duke and #7 Texas A&M. Sebastian Fanselow, Finn Tearney and Alex Llompart were all named to the All-WCC first team in singles, while Fanselow and Jenson Turner were awarded all-conference honors in doubles after piecing together an 18-1 dual season record as a pair. At the 2011 NCAA Singles Championships, Fanselow advanced to the round of 16 to earn All-American distinction.
TENNIS HISTORY — The Pepperdine men's tennis program is synonymous with the word excellence, as the Waves are a perennial national power. The Waves have advanced to postseason play 35 times in 38 seasons, including an NCAA championship in 2006. Within the WCC, Pepperdine has dominated the competition, winning 41 conference championships since 1958.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports - one of just 16 schools to have accomplished this feat - and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest enrollment and is the only school not in a major conference. Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #55 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges. The 2011-12 school year marks Pepperdine's 75th anniversary.
