MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's tennis program opened up a 2-0 lead over #11 Columbia on Wednesday afternoon, but the Lions answered with four singles victories to post a 4-2 win at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center and snap the Waves' five-match win streak.
 
Pepperdine (5-6) got the doubles point, as Maxi Homberg (Freising, Germany) and Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) opened up the scoring with a 6-3 win on court two. To clinch the first point of the match over Columbia (10-1), Linus Carlsson Halldin (Stockholm, Sweden) and Pietro Fellin (Milan, Italy) won 6-4 on court three to gain the early edge.
 
Pepperdine kept the pressure on singles, winning four first sets. Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) doubled the lead with an impressive 6-1, 6-3 win over #59 Roko Horvat on court two. This was the only straight-set affair of the day, as all five other courts went to third sets.
 
The tide then started to turn as Columbia forced third sets on one and six while winning on courts three and four to tie the match up at two apiece.
 
With three courts remaining, Columbia took the third sets on six and one, in that order, to earn the match victory.
 
RESULTS
 
DOUBLES
 
#38 De Jonge/Zeitvogel vs. Winegar/Zheng 3-5 unfinished
Homberg/Vasa def. N. Kotzen/Westphal 6-3
Carlsson Halldin/Fellin def. Horvat/A. Kotzen 6-4
 
Order of finish: 2, 3
 
SINGLES
 
#16 Zheng def. #65 De Jonge 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Zeitvogel def. #59 Horvat 6-1, 6-3
A. Kotzen def. Vasa 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
#75 Westphal def. Homberg 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
Fellin vs. Hashimoto 6-4, 4-6, 4-4 unfinished
N. Kotzen def. Carlsson Halldin 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
 
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 6, 1*
 
NEXT UP: Pepperdine takes on Oklahoma State at home tomorrow, March 16, at 2 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.