MALIBU, Calif. — Closing out The Malibu Showdown with its third match in three days, the Pepperdine men's tennis team notched seven wins against the Louisville Cardinals at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.
Despite playing their third match in as many days, the Waves ended their first fall tournament on a high note. All three doubles teams swept the Cardinals, Pepperdine players picked up four singles wins, and two — Linus Carlsson Halldin and Edward Winter — finished the weekend with perfect 3-0 records in singles play.
While the doubles points for Pepperdine were close throughout The Malibu Showdown, the Waves put it all together against Louisville on Sunday.
Over on court two, Winter (Adelaide, Australia) and Maxi Homberg (Freising, Germany) only dropped the first game before rattling off six straight games against Louisville's Miguel Avandano and Andre' Steinbach for a 6-1 win. As a team, Winter and Homberg went 3-0 on the weekend — the only Pepperdine doubles team to do so.
Playing in the first doubles position, Carlsson Halldin (Stockholm, Sweden) and George Davis (London, England) won their second consecutive match of the fall season in a 6-2 win over Will Mayew and Russell Lokko. Although the Cardinals broke the Waves in the first game, the Waves broke back, then consolidated the break to take a 2-1 lead. Pepperdine broke the Cardinals in the following game when Davis sliced a forehand past both Louisville players at the net and into the back corner of the court. From there, the duo only suffered one setback as the Cardinals broke them to make it a 5-2 game. Pepperdine would finish the job in the next game and win the match on a double fault.
Shortly after Pepperdine's win on court two, Tyler Davis (Redlands, Calif.) and Photos Photiades (Dali, Cyprus) got their first doubles win of the fall season. The Waves and Cardinals held serve for the first two games, but the opposition threatened to break Davis and Photiades in the third game. Facing four consecutive break points, Davis and Photiades came back to hold serve, then they won the next five points to break Kosuke Nakanishi and Piet Steveker. With Davis back to serve, Pepperdine consolidated the break to take a commanding 4-1 lead.
Leading 5-2, the tandem forced a match point in the eighth game, yet Louisville held serve. But the Cardinals wouldn't hold on for much longer. In what would be the final game, Photiades gave Pepperdine an early 30-0 advantage, Davis' overhead smash forced match point, then with Davis back to serve, Photiades finished off the Cardinals with a quick slice at the net to finalize the 6-3 win.
Singles play was only slightly more competitive than doubles. Three Pepperdine players won their first sets — including Carlsson Halldin, who led the Waves with his dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over Andre' Steinbach on court two. Halldin rattled off five consecutive games while only facing deuce point twice before Steinbach got on the board to make it a 5-1 contest in the first set. In the second set, Halldin faced little resistance as he cruised to his third win of the weekend.
Halldin's doubles partner also fared well in singles play. After playing several hard-fought singles matches earlier in the weekend, George Davis earned his first singles win as a Wave with his 6-3, 6-3 win over Miguel Avendano on court three.
Graduate senior Tyler Davis also earned his first singles win in a Pepperdine uniform on Sunday. He comfortably took the first set 6-3 before Louisville's Russell Lokko evened things up with a 6-4 second-set win. The third set was on serve until the eighth game when Lokko broke Davis to take a 5-3 lead.
With his back against the wall, Davis rattled off five straight points to break Lokko back. The fifth-year senior won a key hold in the next game off a long rally in which Lokko's forehand return went long. Davis won a pivotal break point in the next game, then won his first match in Division I singles play when Lokko couldn't get a handle on Davis' serve.
Court one featured plenty of drama between Winter and Louisville's Will Mayew. In a match that drew the biggest crowd of the weekend, Winter had to dig deep to earn his three-set victory over the Louisville sophomore. Mayew got the best of Winter in the first set after coming from behind and forcing a tiebreak, which he won 7-3. But this sparked Winter, who broke Mayew to start the first set, consolidated the break and never trailed in a 6-0 second-set win.
The third set, however, wasn't as easy. Mayew went up a break early, but Winter broke back in the third game before holding serve to tie things up at two games apiece. Winter broke Mayew again by coming out on top in a 17-hit rally, yet Mayew broke back and won the next game to make the score 4-3 in the third set. Momentum shifted in Mayew's favor in the eighth game, as the sophomore faced four-straight game points to break Winter again.
Trailing five games to four in the third set, Winter showed great resolve in the toughest test of his young collegiate career. He won a pivotal deuce point to tie the set at five-all, broke Mayew in the next game, and then rattled off the next five points to win the match 6-7 (7-3), 6-0. 7-5.
For his 3-0 record on court one, Winter was named the singles MVP of the tournament. The doubles MVP went to Michigan's team of Gavin Young and Jacob Bickersteth.
RESULTS
Singles
1. Edward Winter (PEPP) def. Will Mayew (LOU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-0, 7-5
2. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP) def. Andre' Steinbach (LOU) 6-1, 6-0
3. George Davis (PEPP) def. Miguel Avendano (LOU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Kosuke Nakanishi (LOU) def. Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 4-2, retired
5. Tyler Davis (PEPP) def. Russell Lokko (LOU) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
6. Piet Steveker (LOU) def. Photos Photiades (PEPP) 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
Doubles
1. G. Davis/Carlsson Halldin (PEPP) def. Mayew/Lokko (LOU) 6-2
2. Homberg/Winter (PEPP) def. Avendano/Steinbach (LOU) 6-1
3. T. Davis/Photiades (PEPP) def. Nakanishi/Steveker (LOU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,2,3,5,1,6)
UP NEXT: Pepperdine travels to Tulsa, Okla. for the ITA All-American Tournament, starting Sept. 30.
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