Final Stats

GAINESVILLE, Fla. " The Pepperdine men's tennis team fought valiantly, forcing three three-set matches against South Florida in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Saturday, falling 4-3. With the loss, the Waves play in the consolation game of the bracket Sunday against Southern Alabama.

The Waves (0-2) had two of their doubles pairs win to take the doubles point over the Bull (1-2). Dennis Uspensky and Dane Esses both won their singles matches to give the Waves the advantage in singles, but two three-set heartbreakers to result in the Bulls (1-2) the victory.

RESULTS

DOUBLES

1: Dennis Uspensky/Nicholas Baez (PEPP) def. Grayson Goldin/Alberto Barroso-Campos (USF) " 6-3

2: Dane Esses/Brian Berdusco (PEPP) def. Sean Burnette/Pierre Luquet (USF) " 6-3

3: Peter Bertran/Jakub Wojcik (USF) def. Max Mendelsohn/Yusuf Khamis " 1-6

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

SINGLES

1: Dennis Uspensky (PEPP) def. Grayson Goldin (USF) " 7-6 (8-6), 6-2

2: Alberto Barroso-Campos (USF) def. Brian Berdusco (PEPP) " 6-4, 6-3

3: Peter Bertran (USF) def. Yusuf Khamis (PEPP) " 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

4: Dane Esses (PEPP) def. Sean Burnette (USF) " 6-1, 6-1

5: Jakub Wojcik (USF) def. Max Mendelsohn (PEPP) " 6-2, 6-4

6: Pierre Luquet (USF) def. Nicholas Baex (PEPP) " 6-4, 0-6

Order of finish: 4, 5, 6, 2, 1, 3

PLAY BY PLAY

The Waves opened the action in doubles, with Esses and Berdusco clinching the point against Sean Burnette and Pierre Luquet with a 6-3 win after Uspensky and Baez defeated Grayson Goldin and Alberto Barroso-Campos 6-3 in their match.

In singles, Esses dominated his opponent winning in straight sets, only giving one game in each set. Uspensky had the only other singles win for the Waves, winning his first set in dramatic, tiebreak fashion, then promptly dominating the second set, 6-2. After securing a 3-3 tie, the match came down to court three where Khamis faced Bertran. Khamis fought back after being down 5-1 in the final set, eventually finishing with the three-set loss by a score of 6-3.

NOTABLES

• Dennis Uspensky is ranked #100 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings.
• With his singles win, Uspensky improves his singles record this year to 6-3 (.666)
• The pair of Uspensky and Nicholas Baez improves to 3-2 in doubles play this season.

UP NEXT

The Waves take on South Alabama in the consolation game of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend bracket. The match will start no earlier than 1 pm (PT).

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