MALIBU, California – The #19 Pepperdine men's tennis program rounds out the non-conference portion of its schedule with two crucial matches, as #13 Harvard and #15 Texas visit the Waves in Malibu this week.
MATCH 12: #19 Pepperdine (7-4) vs. #13 Harvard (10-2) | Thursday, March 17 | 2 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
MATCH 13: #19 Pepperdine (7-4) vs. #15 Texas (8-7, at #9 USC on Tues.) | Friday, March 18 | 2 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SERIES HISTORY: Pepperdine has won 12 of 15 meetings with Harvard all-time, but the Crimson snapped a four-match losing streak with a 4-3 victory back in January at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by USC. The Waves have not lost to Harvard in Malibu since 1999. Pepperdine is 10-10 all-time against Texas, but the two schools have not met since 2013, a 6-1 Waves win at home. The Longhorns last defeated Pepperdine at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in 1999.
COVERAGE: All home matches will be live-streamed via Playsight and can be found on PepperdineWaves.com. Scores will be updated periodically on the web and on Twitter at @PeppTennis.
ATTENDANCE: Due to relaxed L.A. County COVID guidelines, tickets are no longer required for home tennis events.
WAVES IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, Pepperdine is ranked 27
th by the ITA computer ratings and 19
th in the Tennis Channel/USTA college poll.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine has won four in a row, most recently defeating #50 Penn 5-2 last week. The Waves are a perfect 5-0 at home this season and have not lost in over a month. Pepperdine has five singles players ranked by the ITA: #13
Daniel De Jonge, #48
Andrew Rogers, #51
Pietro Fellin, #66
Tim Zeitvogel and #121
Corrado Summaria.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Harvard is on a five-match winning streak, most recently defeating Vanderbilt 6-1 on February 25. They hold wins over Boston College, Georgetown, Pepperdine, Michigan, Brown, Princeton, Columbia and Vandy so far this season. The Crimson are represented in both singles and doubles rankings by the ITA: Henry Von Der Schulenburg (#23), Brian Shi (#29), Harris Walker (#35) and Daniel Milavski/Shi (#20). Texas, a defending NCAA semifinalist, has lost four of its last five after starting the dual campaign 6-3. Most recently, the Longhorns took #2 Ohio State to the wire before falling 4-3. Texas has three singles players and two doubles teams ranked by the ITA: #20 Pierre-Yves Bailly, #32 Richard Ciamarra, #38 Micah Braswell, #12 Ciamarra/Cleeve Harper and #51 Eliot Spizzirri/Siem Woldeab.
FOLLOW: Follow @PeppTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
