NOTES | ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS

MALIBU, Calif. - The 53rd-ranked Pepperdine men's tennis squad will travel to Tampa, Fla. this week to compete at the USF Quad Tourney at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.

First, on Friday, the Waves (5-6, 1-0 WCC) will challenge the 17th-ranked tournament hosts, South Florida. Pepperdine will then play Florida Atlantic on Saturday and end the weekend with North Florida on Sunday. The Waves will head into the competition after coming off a big 4-2 victory over 26th-ranked Memphis last Tuesday.

DUAL 12: Friday (March 25): No. 53 Pepperdine (5-6, 1-0 WCC) at No. 17 South Florida (11-6) at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts in Tampa, Fla., 7 a.m. (PT)

DUAL 13: Saturday (March 26): Pepperdine vs. Florida Atlantic (8-10, 0-2 CCSA) at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts in Tampa, Fla., 10 a.m. (PT)

DUAL 14: Sunday (March 27): Pepperdine vs. North Florida (4-9, 0-1 ASC) at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts in Tampa, Fla., 7 a.m. (PT)

MULTIMEDIA: All home matches will have live stats available at this link: http://gowav.es/mtenscores. Also, follow @PeppTennis on Twitter for immediate updates and go to PepperdineSports.com for full recaps, results and more.

LOOKING AHEAD: Next, the Waves will continue West Coast Conference play in California at Saint Mary's on April 1 and Pacific on April 2. After the road stint, Pepperdine will return home to challenge Gonzaga and Portland on April 9 and 10.

LAST WEEK: The then-ranked 71st Waves posted a big upset last week, defeating No. 26 Memphis at home 4-2 to start the week on Tuesday. The Waves started the day with huge comebacks on courts two and three in doubles play. First, Lautaro Pane and Pedro Iamachkine came back for a 2-4 deficit to win 6-2 over Ryan Peniston and Felix Rauch. Tom Hill and Stefan Menichella returned from a deficit themselves to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 victory over Andrew Watson and Shakeel Manji.

Then in singles play, Menichella crushed his opponent with a 6-2, 6-0 result to bring the Waves up 2-0 on the day. Memphis won on court three, but Pane quickly put down 61st-ranked Peniston with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 result to give the home team a 3-1 cushion. Despite another opponent win on court six, the Waves secured the upset as Iamachkine defeated Rauch on court five with 6-4, 4-6 and 6-2 decisions. Guilherme Hadlich was also taking on 86th-ranked Andrew Watson, but his match went unfinished despite his lead in the third set (5-7, 6-3, 4-3).

On Saturday, the Waves challenged sixth-ranked Oklahoma State at home as well and despite a strong effort, fell 7-0 to end the weekend.

THE WAVES: Pepperdine is currently ranked 53rd on the Oracle/ITA Rankings this week after holding a 5-6 overall record and 1-0 record in the West Coast Conference this season. The Waves have a .444 singles win-loss percentage in dual competition this season so far after winning 24 singles matches in 54 matches played. Guilherme Hadlich holds down the number one singles position for the Waves with a 9-4 overall record. He owns a 3-2 record in dual play and has charted one win over a nationally ranked opponent. Lautaro Pane moved up to the number two slot recently after going undefeated for eight consecutive matches. He now has an 8-1 record this dual campaign and a 14-4 record throughout the 2015-16 season.

In doubles, the Waves have one ranked pair, with Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney who rank 37th this week. As a team, the Waves have produced a .529 win-loss record throughout the 2015-16 campaign, including a .462 record in dual play with 12 wins in 26 doubles matches played. Hadlich and Sidney hold down the number one doubles position with an 11-7 overall record this season, including a 2-3 record in the dual campaign. The pair has an even 2-2 record against nationally ranked opponents. Pane and doubles partner Pedro Iamachkine are also very strong for the Waves with a 6-4 record in dual play this spring and an 18-7 overall record throughout the 2015-16 season. The pair has a 5-1 record from the number two doubles position and a 1-3 record in the number one doubles position for the Waves.

RANKINGS: The Waves are currently ranked 53rd on the Oracle/ITA Rankings after moving up 18 spots, and have one doubles team ranked on the Oracle/ITA rankings, junior Guilherme Hadlich and freshman Gabriel Sidney who rank 37th. Pepperdine opened the spring campaign ranked No. 33 as a team in the Oracle/ITA Rankings. As a doubles duo, Hadlich and Sidney were ranked 17th for the Waves. The pair garnered the No. 19-spot heading at the start of the 2016 spring campaign. In the fall, the duo went 7-3 overall, including a 2-2 outing against nationally ranked opponents. The fall was highlighted by the two in their first tournament as doubles partners at the Oracle/ITA Masters when the two defeated No. 1 Georgia with a 3-6, 7-5, 11-9 decision and the No. 28 Notre Dame partners with a sizeable 6-4, 7-5 result before competing in the championship match against No. 2 Virginia.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION: The Waves challenge three teams this week. First on Friday, Pepperdine goes up against USF Quad Tourney hosts, South Florida. USF is ranked 17th in the nation and has gone 11-6 this season thus far. In singles dual play, the Bulls boast a high .625 win-loss percentage after going 50-30 throughout the 2016 campaign. Robert Cid holds down the number one singles position with a 14-2 overall record this season. He is ranked fifth in the nation, but coming off a one-match losing streak. Dominic Cotrone, the Bulls number two, has gone 6-4 this season in dual play and is ranked 31st. In the doubles market, Cotrone and partner Justin Roberts rank 32nd as a duo after putting up an 8-2 record in the number one slot for USF. Sasha Gozun and Vadym Kalyuzhnyy have charted the most number two doubles position matches played with a 6-2 record.

On day two of the tournament, the Waves will take on Florida Atlantic, who is 8-10 overall and 0-2 in the CCSA this season. As a team in singles, the Owls have posted a .545 win-loss percentage in dual play with 55 wins and 46 losses this season. Remi Chancerel holds down the number one position with a 4-5 record so far this season. He has also gone 2-2 in the number two slot and 4-0 in the number three slot. In doubles play, the team has gone 18-23 for a .439 win-loss percentage. Jaoa Gauer and Gerald Nickerson have played the most matches in the number one doubles position and hold a 4-7 record this season as a pair.

Lastly, Pepperdine will take on North Florida, a team that has gone 4-9 this season and 0-1 in ASC play. The Ospreys hold a .425 win-loss percentage in singles play after tabbing a 31-42 record this dual campaign. Jack Findel-Hawkins holds the only singles ranking for the team at the 100-spot and has gone 4-2 in the number one singles position. He is currently on a two-match losing streak. Findel-Hawkins and partner Yannick Zuern are tied 18th in the doubles rankings after posting a 2-1 record in the number one doubles position, including a 1-1 record against nationally ranked opponents this season. As a team, the Ospreys hold an even .500 dual win-loss percentage after going 14-14 in doubles matches this season.

ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND: To start the 2016 spring campaign, the team competed in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by USC at Marks Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. Pepperdine had tough competition through both days of the event, first falling uncontested to then-ranked No. 37 Tulane, 4-0, and then closing out the weekend with a tough 4-3 loss to then-ranked No. 57 UC Davis. Throughout the match on Saturday against UCD, the Waves had a few highlights. First on the doubles side, Pedro Iamachkine and Lautaro Pane won 6-3 to even the score before the opposition prevailed and won 2-of-3 for the doubles point. It was a close battle on the singles side, as the Waves evened the score 1-1 with a Iamachkine 6-3, 6-2 win before going up 2-1 after Pane won 6-3, 7-5. UC Davis took the 3-2 lead later in the day after two consecutive wins, but the Waves were not going to give up as Stefan Menichella upset No. 38-ranked Alec Adamson 7-6 (3), 6-3 to even the score yet again. In a heart-breaking turn of events, UCD won the final match in three sets to take home the ITA Kick-Off Weekend victory.

USTA COLLEGIATE CLAY COURT INVITATIONAL: The Waves performed highly at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational, appearing in both the gold and garnet doubles brackets finals, as well as the garnet singles championship match. Lautaro Pane gave the Waves the highlight of the weekend after taking home the garnet singles title, as well as the garnet doubles title alongside partner Pedro Iamachkine. Iamachkine and Guilherme Hadlich also competed well throughout the gold singles draw, reaching the semifinal matches before bowing out of that portion of the tournament. Hadlich and partner Gabriel Sidney once again excelled on the court, reaching the gold doubles championship match-up and earning runners-up status.

USTA/ITA SOUTHWEST REGIONAL: The Waves hosted the annual USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu. Sophomore doubles pair Pedro Iamachkine and Lautaro Pane reached the championship match-up against No. 17 San Diego duo Jordan Angus and Philip Vittek, falling just short in two sets, 6-4, 6-3. Unranked and unseeded Iamachkine and Pane faced a tough draw throughout the tournament, excelling at all odds after defeating Grand Canyon's Alexander Roggenkamp and Felix Shueller (8-3), San Diego State's No. 31 pair Frederik Gelbrich and Hendrik Jebens (8-3), No. 7-seed out of Arizona Trent Botha and Naoki Taked (8-4) and No. 4 seed Joseph Di Giulio and Karue Wiele Sell (6-5 (5), 6-0) out of UCLA to reach the championship match-up.

ORACLE/ITA MASTERS: First-time duo Guilherme Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney made quite a splash at the first-ever Oracle/ITA Masters hosted by Malibu Racquet Club. After defeating nationally ranked No. 1 Georgia pair Austin Smith and Ben Wagland in come-back fashion and No. 28 Notre Dame partners Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan in straight sets, Hadlich and Sidney competed for the Oracle/ITA Masters Championships. The team fell just short, falling to No. 2 Virginia pair Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane, to finish as runners-up.

FERREIRA: Marcelo Ferreira enters his second season as head coach of the Pepperdine men's tennis team in 2015-16. After serving as the Waves' associate head coach in 2013-14, he was elevated to head coach in July 2014. Ferreira is now the 14th head coach in the program's storied history, dating back to the 1940s.

#PURPOSE: The Pepperdine University Department of Athletics is committed to Christian values, to the academic well-being of all of our student-athletes and to competing for championships. We prepare students for success by challenging them to think differently - find your purpose, serve others and lead by example. The Competing with Purpose campaign highlights the commitment to our core values that student-athletes, coaches and staff dedicate themselves to daily. Competing with Purpose provides the foundation on which champions are built.

WAVES IN THE PROS: Pepperdine has sent its fair share of student-athletes into the pro circuit. Alex Sarkissian won the Silex Men's $15,000 Futures tournament in Vancouver in the summer of 2014. He went on to reach the semifinals of the US Open's inaugural American Collegiate Invitational. Robert Lindstedt, 1998 All-American and NCAA Doubles Championship finalist, has reached as high as #3 in the world doubles rankings. He won the doubles draw at the 2014 Australian Open and is a three-time Wimbledon finalist. Andre Begemann, member of the 2006 NCAA Championship-winning squad, can also be found playing on the pro tour, as can 2012 graduate Alex Llompart.

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 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 25 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). 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 No. 52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.