TULSA, Okla. – The Pepperdine men's tennis team completed play at the ITA All-American, hosted by the University of Tulsa on Tuesday. Adrian Oetzbach finished the tournament with a win over Laurens Verboven of USC, who won the Oracle/ITA Masters two weeks ago.

RESULTS

First Round

#103 Tyler Schick (Tulane) def. Adrian Oetzbach (PEPP) – 7-6(3), 6-1

Qualifying Singles Consolation

Adrian Oetzbach (PEPP) def. #81 Laurens Verboven (USC) – 4-6, 6-4, ret.

MATCH RECAP

In Monday's match, Oetzbach (Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany/Geschwister-School HS) battled through a tough first set, but his opponent eventually came out on top in the tiebreak. Schick then won the second set 6-1. "Great battle in the first set on Monday," said Head Coach Adam Schaechterle, "but Tulane did a better job of responding to adversity. We have to grow our capacity to absorb setbacks while continuing to fully compete for every point."

Tuesday's match went much better for Oetzbach, defeating 81st ranked Laurens Verboven from USC, who two weeks ago came out on top at the Oracle/ITA Masters. Though Verboven took the first set, Oetzbach came back to take the second, 6-4, before his opponent retired from the match, giving Pepperdine a solid highlight to end the tournament.

QUOTABLE

"The conclusion to today's match was obviously a bit strange," said Schaechterle, "but that doesn't diminish Adrian's competitive effort. We have an incredible amount of respect for the USC Program, and Adrian's opponent is one of their stars. He won the Oracle/ITA Masters event two weeks ago and has been playing at an All-American Level this fall, and will be one of the top players in the nation this spring.

"Adrian had every opportunity to accept defeat," Schaechterle said of Oetzbach. "He was down a set and in trouble in the second, but he continued to show energy and intensity and found a way to hang around. When you are stubborn about creating opportunities to win, it usually pays off. Adrian knows he was the tougher competitor today, and that will be big for his confidence moving forward."

UP NEXT

The Waves will be back in action at the ITA Regionals, hosted in Malibu at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, beginning Thursday, October 18th and continuing until Monday the 22nd.

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