April 29, 2016 Final Stats
FINAL RESULTS | PHOTO GALLERY
CLAREMONT, Calif. - The 61st-ranked Pepperdine men's tennis team battled the courts against second-seeded and 60th-ranked BYU this Friday afternoon in the WCC Semifinals at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center, coming away with a 4-3 victory to advance to the championship match.
The third-seeded Waves will challenge 30th-ranked and top-seeded San Diego tomorrow (Saturday) at 10 a.m. to contend for the WCC crown for the third-consecutive season.
The Waves went down in doubles play, for the second day in a row, to head into singles competition with a 1-0 deficit.
Pepperdine was up to the task, however, and quickly tied the match win a win on court six before overcoming the opposition for the Waves' first advantage of the day on court five.
After reaching a 3-3 tie, the teams looked on to sophomore Pedro Iamachkine (Lima, Peru/Nebraska HS) to battle for the opportunity to play in the championship match.
"It's always a relief to know that it is in my power to get the victory," said Iamachkine. "Last year, I had a lot of experience clinching matches and I know my teammates rely on me in those key moments. I enjoy that pressure and I love the battle."
Iamachkine went head-to-head with Andrey Goryachkov, dropping the first set with a tough 5-7 decision in the Cougars' favor. Iamachkine then, fueled by the cheers of the Waves watching on, dominated the second set with a 6-2 result to put the match into a third set. The two went point-for-point to the 3-3 mark, before the Wave would pull away with a vengeance, working ahead and clinching the overall match 4-3 with a 6-3 final set victory.
"We are strongest in singles play," said Iamachkine. "With our singles guys on the court giving their best and the four guys outside the court encouraging us. It's always a team effort and we are ready to take them.
"It feels good to win today. It feels like we got over the second bump and we have one more match left this weekend. It's either put it all on the court or go home, and we are ready to bring out best game."
Freshman Gabriel Sidney (Curitiba, Parana, Brazil/Anglo Americano) was the Wave on court six. He first went down 2-0 in his first set, but battled back to defeat Aidan Carrazed 6-2 in the first and 6-0 in the second to put the score at 1-1.
"It feels really good to win today," said Sidney. "I started playing my best tennis again today. After going down to start, I knew I had to relax and did and try to play my best tennis so that felt good."
Junior Stefan Menichella (Santa Barbara, Calif./University HS) was solid on court five, besting Jeremy Bourgeois with a 6-1, 6-4 final decision to put the Waves up 2-1 with four matches still in action and reaching third set opportunities.
After dropping the first set 4-6, freshman Jack Van Slyke (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Laurel Springs HS (CA)) would not let up, eventually amassing a 6-1 win in set two to send the match into a third set. He went point-for-point with John Pearce, but worked ahead late to earn a 6-4 victory and bring the team up 3-1 on the day.
"The two victories we've had the past two days have been really important to us because we had a lot of tough moments and injuries during the season," said Sidney. "We are showing the Pepperdine way by fighting through all the matches and coming out with 100 percent effort.
"Unfortunately we didn't win the doubles point either day, but it's just a point and a team needs four to win so we planned to go into singles aggressively and we got the victory on both days."
After that, the Cougars amassed two wins on courts one and two, tying the match at 3-3 and leaving the fate of the Waves in the hands of Iamachkine, which eventually ended in the exciting winning fashion.
"We have been looking to go up against San Diego since the beginning of the tournament," Sidney said. "It was always the goal to be in the finals against them.
"We expect good things tomorrow after these last two solid wins. It built our confidence up and I think it is going to be a great match."
Tournament Central for the WCC Championships is located here: http://www.wccsports.com/page/2016-wcc-tennis-championships. Follow @PeppTennis on Twitter for the most immediate updates and find results, recaps and more on PepperdineSports.com.
