MALIBU, Calif. — For the second-straight match, the Pepperdine men's tennis team plays host to a nationally ranked team as the #18 Arizona State Sun Devils come to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center this Friday at 2 p.m.
Admission is free to the public. Live scores and a live stream will be available through PlaySight; both links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
MATCH 3: Pepperdine (1-1) vs. #18 Arizona State (4-1) | Friday, Feb. 2 | 2 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine is coming off a season-opening, back-to-back stretch in which it beat Georgia Tech 4-3 on Sunday before falling 5-2 to then-No. 23 Michigan State on Monday. Since then, Michigan State has risen to #19 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association team rankings, while the Waves were one of nine teams to receive votes.
Playing with three new faces in the singles lineups and an entirely different doubles roster than it was a year ago, Pepperdine has shown promise in its first two matches of 2024.
Although the Waves have yet to win the doubles point this season, they haven't been outclassed in doubles play. Pepperdine has been down by more than a break in all but one of the six doubles matches this season; both doubles points against Georgia Tech and Michigan State went down to the wire.
In singles, Pietro Fellin has gotten off to a 2-0 start with two dominant, straight-set wins on the fourth line. Against Georgia Tech, Fellin earned his first win over a ranked opponent with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set win over #67 Gabriele Brancatelli He is the only Wave to win a singles point in both matches this season.
Aside from Fellin, four Waves have picked up wins this year. Freshman Edward Winter, who ranks #23 in the nation in singles, picked up his first win over a top-15 opponent with a 6-0, 6-4 win over #12 Ronnie Hohmann III of Michigan State on Monday. Winter was nearly unstoppable, winning the first 11 games before Hohmann got back into the match from behind the service line.
Two newcomers — graduate transfer Chris Papa, sophomore Maxi Homberg and freshman Zach Stephens — have also notched singles wins. All three were integral parts to Pepperdine's 4-3 win over Georgia Tech: Homberg cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Richard Biagiotti on the fifth line, Papa earned his first Division I win with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Marcus McDaniel, then Stephens clinched the match for the Waves with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
Carrying a two-match win streak into Friday, Arizona State is coming off winning a pair of matches against then-No. 25 Florida State and VCU to punch its ticket to the ITA Indoor Championships.
All-American junior #10 Murphy Cassone leads the Sun Devils as he looks to improve on his stellar sophomore campaign. Cassone reached the NCAA Singles Tournament semifinals last spring, capping off a season where he amassed a 22-7 record to become ASU's first All-American since 1995. He is ASU's lone ranked singles player and is tied with senior Jacob Bullard with three singles wins this spring.
In doubles, Max McKennon and Bor Artnak are undefeated with a 5-0 record at the second position. Arizona State has not lost the doubles point in any of its matches this season.
As members in the ITA Southwest Region, ASU and Pepperdine crossed paths in the fall season on several occasions — most notably when Homberg and Winter beat Constantinos Koshis and Daniel Phillips 8-2 en route to the Waves' runner-up finish at the ITA Southwest Regionals. In the fall, Pepperdine went 0-2 against ASU in singles matches.
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