MALIBU, Calif. – The #24 Pepperdine men's tennis program found itself in a battle with a scrappy Santa Clara team on Saturday afternoon, but the Waves were eventually too much for the Broncos in earning a 4-2 Senior Day win at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
Pepperdine (16-6, 8-1 WCC) got things going early in doubles as seniors
Enrique Luque Rico (Cordoba, Spain) and
Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) were 6-1 winners on court three. Santa Clara (9-11, 4-4 WCC) would rally, however, posting a 6-3 upset win on court one. For the second Saturday in a row, the doubles point came down to a tiebreaker, but this time Pepperdine was unable to secure the point as the Broncos came away with a 7-6 (5) win on court two to put the Waves in a hole with singles on the way.
Pepperdine flipped the script in singles, however, by winning four first sets. In those four, Pepperdine only dropped a total of seven games. #20
Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Netherlands) got Pepperdine on the board with a 6-1, 6-2 win on the top court over Guillaume Dalmasso. Moments later,
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) gave the Waves their first lead of the day with a 6-3, 6-0 triumph on court five over Santiago Hinojosa. #90
Pietro Fellin (Milan, Italy) extended the lead to 3-1 after a 6-2, 6-3 court six win against Ryan Ali.
Santa Clara would not go away, posting a straight-set win on court three to make it a 3-2 match with two courts remaining. However, Rico would put the Broncos away and clinch the match for the Waves after taking down James Bell 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
In between doubles and singles, Pepperdine honored seniors
Andrew Rogers (Brentwood, Tenn.),
Corrado Summaria (Cosenza, Italy) and
Enrique Luque Rico for their contributions to the program. In the last three seasons, the Waves have posted a 17-1 record in the WCC and a 21-2 record at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
Neuhaus/Shah def. #74
De Jonge/Vasa 6-3
Dalmasso/Hinojosa def.
Fellin/Rogers 7-6 (5)
Rico/Zeitvogel def. Bell/Cmager 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
#20
De Jonge def. Dalmasso 6-1, 6-2
#59
Zeitvogel vs. Neuhaus 6-1, 4-6, 4-2 unfinished
Shah def. #99
Rogers 7-6 (1), 6-3
Rico def. Bell 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Vasa def. Hinojosa 6-3, 6-0
#90
Fellin def. Ali 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 3, 4*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will be the #2 seed in the WCC Tournament, earning a bye to the semifinals next Friday. They will play the winner of the 3/6 quarterfinal at 10:00 a.m. on Friday morning.
FOLLOW: Follow @PeppTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
