PROVO, Utah – The #23 Pepperdine men's tennis program used four singles victories to get past BYU 4-1 on Thursday afternoon at the Cougars' indoor tennis facility.
The win keeps Pepperdine (14-5, 6-0 WCC) with a share of the lead in the West Coast Conference, and gives the Waves their first win in Provo since 2014.
BYU (8-10, 1-5 WCC) struck first in doubles, taking court one by a score of 6-4. Pepperdine responded with a win on three, as the reigning West Coast Conference Doubles Team of the Week –
Enrique Luque Rico (Cordoba, Spain) and
Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) – was victorious, 7-5. The doubles point came down to court two, where the Cougs won in a tiebreak, 7-6 (4), to gain an early edge heading into singles play.
Singles were completed in two flights, with four singles matches getting started first, followed by the other two. The Waves took all four first sets in the first flight, with #60 Zeitvogel gathering the first win on court two, 6-3, 6-1 over Matheus Leite to tie the match at one. The reigning WCC Singles Player of the Week and #15
Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Netherlands) was the next Waves' winner, earning his third straight-set victory in a row after taking down Wally Thayne 6-3, 6-4 on the top court. Rico gave Pepperdine a commanding 3-1 lead with the third straight-set win of the day, defeating Alex Lin 6-1, 6-4 on court four.
With three matches remaining,
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) was pushed to a third set on court three, while courts five and six had staggered starts after the first three courts finished. Vasa claimed the clincher for the Waves, earning a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-5 victory over Dominik Jakovljevic to wrap up the afternoon.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
Thayne/Whiting def.
De Jonge/Vasa 6-4
Barnett/Leite def.
Fellin/Summaria 7-6 (4)
Rico/Zeitvogel def. Jakovljevic/Lin 7-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
SINGLES
#15
De Jonge def. Thayne 6-3, 6-4
#60
Zeitvogel def. Leite 6-3, 6-1
Vasa def. Jakovljevic 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-5
Rico def. Lin 6-1, 6-4
Summaria vs. Schreiner 6-3, 6-7 (5) unfinished
#95
Fellin vs. Whiting 6-7 (5), 1-0 unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1, 4, 3*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will visit #22 San Diego on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The winner will claim sole possession of first place in the WCC with two conference matches remaining for each team.
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