MALIBU, California – After dropping the doubles point and four first sets, the #22 Pepperdine men's tennis team roared back for an impressive 4-1 win against Portland on Saturday afternoon at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
Pepperdine (12-5, 4-0 WCC) struck first in doubles, as
Enrique Luque Rico (Cordoba, Spain) and
Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) were 6-2 winners on court three. However, Portland (7-9, 3-3 WCC) would rally as the 24
th-ranked doubles pair of Eleftherios Neos and Sema Pankin were 6-4 victors on court one. The doubles point came down to court two, where the Pilots won 6-3, sending Pepperdine into an early hole heading into singles.
Portland kept the momentum going in singles, winning four first sets. However, the Waves had the first singles win thanks to Rico's 6-0, 6-1 win on court six over Oscar Brown which tied the match up at one. #15
Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Netherlands) gave Pepperdine its first lead of the day with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sema Pankin on the main court, a lead it would not relinquish.
Holding serve on the two first sets won, the Waves' attention turned toward forcing third sets on courts two through five. After doing so on all four remaining courts,
Corrado Summaria (Cosenza, Italy) was a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victor over Nikolas Tvedt on court five, opening up a 3-1 lead for the Waves.
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) closed out the match victory for the Waves after earning a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win on court three over Nicolas Ocana.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#24 Neos/Pankin def.
De Jonge/Vasa 6-4
Ocana/Tvedt def.
Rogers/Summaria 6-3
Rico/Zeitvogel def. Oberg/Yoshida 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
#15
De Jonge def. Pankin 6-4, 6-4
#48
Zeitvogel vs. Neos 3-6, 6-4, 3-4 unfinished
Vasa def. Ocana 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
#86
Rogers vs. Yoshida 5-7, 7-5, 0-1 unfinished
Summaria def. Tvedt 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Rico def. Brown 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 1, 5, 3*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine finishes the weekend with a home match against #55 Gonzaga on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
FOLLOW: Follow @PeppTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
