#12 Waves Take on Top-Ranked USC on Friday
2/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 8, 2012
MALIBU, Calif. - The #12 Pepperdine men's tennis team hosts #1-ranked and three-time defending NCAA champion USC this Friday, Feb. 10 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. and admission is free to all spectators.
GIVEAWAY - Free pizza will be served to all Pepperdine students who attend the match. Additionally, Friday's match will count as a Waves' Team cup event for all student-athletes.
MATCH #6 - Friday (Feb. 10) at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center: #12 Pepperdine (3-2) vs. #1 USC (6-0) at 1 p.m.
COVERAGE - Live scoring updates can be followed or via Twitter @PeppTennis.
LOOKING BACK - Pepperdine traveled to the Midwest for matches against top-10 ranked Ohio State and Kentucky. Although the Waves lost both matches, the team made significant strides. Alex Llompart and Finn Tearney defeated the #1-ranked doubles team of Blaz Rola and Chase Buchanan of OSU. Versus the Wildcats, Pepperdine played solid in doubles but were unable to put the dual away in singles and lost 4-2.
WHAT'S NEXT - The Waves travel to #8-ranked and local rival UCLA on Tuesday, Feb. 14 for a 1:30 p.m. match before heading to Charlottesville, Va. for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 17-21. In addition to the Bruins, other teams slated to compete at the indoor nationals include Ohio State, Kentucky, USC, Duke, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Virginia, Tennessee, Auburn, Bayor, Florida, Cal and Georgia.
USC - The Trojans are 6-0 this season after blanking #9 Stanford and defeating #13 Cal by a score of 5-2. Players in the rankings include Ray Sarmiento (#12), Daniel Nguyen (#16), Yannick Hanfmann (#33), Emilio Gomez (#48) and Michael Grant (#124). USC's #1 singles player of Steve Smith is currently unranked after missing out on the fall season.
TEAM RANKINGS - The Waves start out the dual campaign listed at #12 on the Campbell's/ITA Collegiate rankings after ending the 2011 season in the #15 spot. Other WCC schools to be recognized as a top-75 team include San Diego (#24), BYU (#52), Santa Clara (#49) and Saint Mary's (#65).
SINGLED OUT - Four Pepperdine student-athletes have been honored with a spot in the singles rankings to open the 2012 dual season. Topping the list for the Waves is Sebastian Fanselow at #21 and Finn Tearney at #35. Mousheg Hovhannisyan follows at #49 while Hugh Clarke rounds out the list at #106.
DAVID OVER GOLIATH - Alex Llompart and Finn Tearney issued the NCAA's #1-ranked pair of Blaz Rola and Chase Buchanan of Ohio State their first loss of the 2011-12 season on Feb. 3 in Columbus, Ohio. This is not the first time Llompart and Tearney have earned the "W" against one of the nation's most highly touted doubles pairs. Last season, the Wave tandem upset Texas A&M's Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo, ranked #2 by the ITA at the time, 9-7. The Aggie twosome would go onto win the 2011 NCAA Championship doubles title.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE - The Waves boast one of the toughest schedules in the country, with at least 11 duals versus teams who are currently ranked in the top-25. Top-10 ranked squads the Waves have or already have faced include #1 USC, #3 Ohio State, #6 Kentucky, #8 UCLA, #9 Stanford and #10 Duke.
2011 FALL RECAP - The Waves had a solid fall season, and collectively tallied 40 singles victories. Mousheg Hovhannisyan went a team-best 9-3 which included a pair of victories versus ranked opponents. Hugh Clarke, Sebastian Fanselow and Finn Tearney all earned seven singles wins apiece.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH - Finn Tearney picked up West Coast Conference Singles Player of the Month honors after reaching the semifinals of the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships on Oct. 20-24 in Malibu. Although the junior has earned doubles player of the month recognition on four occasions, this was the first time he was honored for his success in singles. Sebastian Fanselow earned the same award for the month of November.
TWITTER - Fans can follow the Waves on Twitter @PeppTennis or @PepperdineWaves and "like" us on Facebook by searching for Pepperdine Athletics.
REGIONAL SUCCESS - Pepperdine hosted the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships last October. Four Waves reached the fourth round with Finn Tearney and Mousheg Hovhannisyan emerging to the quarterfinals. Tearney advanced to the semifinals after defeating Hovhannisyan before suffering a loss to the eventual winner, Ray Sarmiento of USC. For his efforts, Tearney was awarded an at-large bid to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships. Sebastian Fanselow was awarded one of two ITA wildcard entries into the bracket.
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.
VETERANS — 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 DUAL RECAP — The Waves finished the 2011 dual season with a 18-5 record and concluded the season ranked #15 in the Campbell's/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.
