AUSTIN, Texas — For the third-straight season, the #32 Pepperdine men's tennis team reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament with its 4-1 win over #39 UTSA on Saturday.
The Waves (19-8, 8-1 WCC) will face top-seed Texas in the second round on Saturday at 11 a.m. PT. Both teams met earlier this season; Texas won that match 5-2.
Playing against a Roadrunners (18-7, 2-1 C-USA) squad for the first time in program history, the Waves pulled ahead in doubles thanks to Eero Vasa (Turku, Finland) and Maxi Homberg (Freising, Germany)'s 6-2 win on court two. Pepperdine's #64 ranked duo of Daniel De Jonge (Vlissingen, Netherlands) and Tim Zeitvogel (Baden-Baden, Germany) overcame an early deficit to clinch the doubles point for the Waves with a 6-3 win.
In singles, Vasa and Homberg maintained their momentum by beating their opponents in straight sets in short succession. Moments after Vasa's 6-4, 6-3 win on the third line, Homberg put Pepperdine up 3-0 with his 6-4, 6-2 win on court five.
Although UTSA would get on the board with a win on court four, the Waves put away the Roadrunners thanks to Linus Carlsson Halldin (Stockholm, Sweden)'s efforts on court six. Playing in the first NCAA Tournament match of his career, the redshirt freshman rebounded from dropping the first set to send Pepperdine to the second round with his 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 win.
Saturday's match will be the 22nd meeting between Pepperdine and Texas. The Longhorns have a 10-12 advantage in the all-time series and have won three of the last five meetings dating back to 2007.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#64 De Jonge/Zeitvogel def. Torres/Magadan 6-3
Vasa/Homberg def. Rodriguez/ Pinho 6-2
Fellin/Carlsson Halldin vs. Ross/ Skelly 5-5, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
SINGLES
#107 Zeitvogel vs. Torres 6-2, 4-6, 3-3, unfinished
#69 De Jonge vs. Magadan 4-6, 6-3, 2-2, unfinished
Vasa def. Rodriguez 6-4, 6-3
Pinho def. Fellin 6-2, 7-5
Homberg def. Muminovic 6-4, 6-2
Carlsson Halldin def. Ross 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish: 3,5,4,6*
UP NEXT: Pepperdine will face 1-seed Texas tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. PT. Links to live stats and live video can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page at 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.
