MALIBU, California – The 19^th-ranked Pepperdine men's tennis program did enough in the end to win its fourth straight match, slipping by Penn 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
 
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) came back after dropping the first set to win the third set on a tiebreaker and clinch the match for the Waves.
 
In doubles, Pepperdine (7-4) was once again a winner, as Corrado Summaria (Cosenza, Italy) and Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) took court three by a score of 6-3. Shortly after, Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Germany) and Eric Hadigian (Sacramento, Calif.) secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court two.
 
The first sets of singles were tight throughout, as the Waves took three while Penn (8-2) took the other three. The first singles winner was Hadigian, winning 6-4, 6-1 on court five to give Pepperdine a 2-0 lead. After the Quakers cut the lead in half with a straight-set win on court three, #111 Zeitvogel responded with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court two.
 
With three matches remaining and Pepperdine holding a 3-1 lead, Penn hung around for a three-set win on court six. The Quakers forced a third set on court one, but Vasa took matters into his own hands on court four with a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (2) victory.
 
#13 De Jonge's match on court one finished to completion, where he was victorious, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0.
 
RESULTS
 
DOUBLES
 
Rogers/Vasa vs. Graziani/Hildebrandt 3-5, unfinished
De Jonge/Hadigian def. Parikh/Zhu 6-3
Summaria/Zeitvogel def. Gupta/Sai 6-3
 
Order of finish: 3, 2
 
SINGLES
 
#13 De Jonge def. Graziani 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0
#111 Zeitvogel def. Hildebrandt 6-1, 6-4
Gupta def. #24 Rogers 6-3, 6-2
Vasa def. Zhu 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (2)
Hadigian def. Parikh 6-4, 6-1
Sai def. Luque Rico 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
 
Order of finish: 5, 3, 2, 6, 4*, 1
 
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will round out the non-conference portion of its schedule next week, hosting Harvard and Texas on Thursday and Friday, March 17-18, respectively. Both matches begin at 2:00 p.m.
 
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