MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's tennis program took care of business in its long-awaited home opener on Sunday, defeating UC Santa Barbara 4-3 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center to hand the Gauchos their first loss of the season.
Both Pepperdine (2-5) and UCSB (9-1) had momentum at various points throughout doubles, as
Maxi Homberg (Freising, Germany) and
Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) earned a 6-3 win on court two to start the scoring. UCSB got a 6-2 win on court three, forcing the main court to decide doubles. The teams were tied at three apiece on court one before UCSB pulled away to win 6-3 on court one and win the doubles point.
Pepperdine bounced back in a big way during singles, winning five of six first sets.
Eric Hadigian (Sacramento, Calif.) put the Waves on the board with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Lucca Liu on court four. Vasa gave the Waves their first lead of the day with a straight-set, 6-3, 6-4 win on court three over Gianluca Brunkow. #104
Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Netherlands) then doubled the lead with a 6-3, 6-2 win on the top court over Phillip Jordan.
With three courts remaining and the Waves needing one more point for a win, Homberg sealed the victory with Pepperdine's fourth straight-set win of the day, defeating Conrad Brown 6-3, 6-4 on court six.
Courts two and five played out to completion, with UCSB earning wins on both to finish the afternoon.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#28 Brady/Jordan def. #38
De Jonge/Zeitvogel 6-3
Homberg/Vasa def. Brown/Masjuan 6-3
Brunkow/Liu def.
Fellin/Hadigian 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES
#104
De Jonge def. Jordan 6-3, 6-2
#81 Masjuan def. #89
Zeitvogel 6-4, 6-3
Vasa def. Brunkow 6-3, 6-4
Hadigian def. Liu 6-4, 6-0
Mrsic def.
Fellin 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 [10-2]
Homberg def. Brown 6-3, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 3, 1, 6*, 2, 5
NEXT UP: Pepperdine stays home to face Tulsa next Sunday, February 26, at 12 p.m. Links to live video and stats are available on PepperdineWaves.com.
FOLLOW: Follow @PeppTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
