MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's tennis team kicks off its spring season with home matches against Georgia Tech and Michigan State on Sunday and Monday, respectively.
Both matches will be played at 2 p.m. and will be live-streamed via PlaySight. Admission to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center is free to the public.
MATCH 1: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. Georgia Tech (5-0) | Sunday, Jan. 28 | 2 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
MATCH 2: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. Michigan State (2-0) | Monday, Jan. 29 | 2 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Picked to finish a narrow second in the West Coast Conference Preseason Polls, the Waves bring back three of the top six players from last season's team that made the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Yet the individual storyline so far has been freshman phenom Edward Winter, who is the No. 23 singles player in the nation and is coming off earning berths in singles and doubles at the Australian Open earlier this month. He and sophomore Maxi Homberg earned spots on the WCC Preseason team and rank 43rd in the latest ITA doubles rankings. In fall play, the duo was the ITA Southwest Regional doubles runner-up before losing to Old Dominion's national runner-up team of the Van Schalkwyk brothers in the ITA National Fall Championships.
Playing a home-heavy fall season, the Waves also saw solid performances from team captain Linus Carlsson Halldin, who went 13-3 in singles and capped off the fall season with a three-match win streak. He and graduate senior George Davis teamed up in doubles and earned an at-large berth to the ITA National Fall Championships.
Elsewhere in the lineup, Pepperdine has an intriguing mix of newcomers and returners on its roster, which runs 10-deep this year. Graduate senior Pietro Fellin has been a staple in the Waves' rotation on head coach Adam Schaechterle's rosters, while Robert Shelton looks to parlay the momentum of clinching in two pivotal WCC matches late last season into this year's campaign.
Incoming transfers Tyler Davis and Chris Papa are making the leap to Division I after putting together successful careers at Division II Point Loma and NAIA school San Diego Christian College, respectively. Papa, in particular, won a NAIA national title in doubles and was a multi-time All-American in both singles and doubles before the Hawks disbanded its athletic program in 2023. True freshmen Photos Photiades, of Cyprus, and Zach Stephens, of the United Arab Emirates, round out the roster.
The Waves will certainly be tested this year. Schaechterle put together a challenging non-conference schedule that features eight nationally ranked teams and 14 Power-5 opponents — seven of which will be making the trip to Malibu. All told, Pepperdine has 14 home matches at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on the books this spring.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS
Georgia Tech's squad has gotten off to a hot start this month by going 5-0 and posting 7-0 sweeps in its last three matches. This weekend will be the first time Georgia Tech plays away from home, plus it will be the first time since 2002 that the Yellow Jackets have faced the Waves.
In singles, Georgia Tech has two nationally ranked players: #67 Gabriele Brancatelli and #85 Richard Biagotti. Both players have played in the middle of the Yellow Jacket lineup thus far, with ITA Singles & Doubles All-American Andres Martin leading the lineup with a 5-0 record playing in the first position.
The Yellow Jackets have yet to lose the doubles point this season thanks to Keshav Chopra and Marcus McDaniel's perfect 5-0 record playing on the first line. Martin and Krish Arora also have a perfect record on the third line, while, interestingly, Brancatelli and Biagotti have a .500 record in dual singles play after earning a berth to the ITA National Fall Championships back in November.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Checking in at No. 21 in the latest ITA rankings, Michigan State is 2-0 with wins over Western Michigan and Brown in which the Spartans won by a combined team score of 13-1.
The Spartans boast four nationally ranked singles players — two of whom are in the top 15. The 2023 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Ozan Baris ranks sixth in the latest ITA singles polls, while LSU transfer #12 Ronnie Hohmann, #59 Max Sheldon and #116 Graydon Lair round out the Spartans' loaded roster.
Sheldon and Baris also team up to make the nation's No. 2 doubles team. The duo won the ITA National Fall Championships doubles title over the Van Schalkwyk brothers of Old Dominion; last spring, the Spartan pair earned All-American status and reached the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.
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