MALIBU, Calif. — Pepperdine men's tennis junior Maxi Homberg punched his ticket to the NCAA Singles Championship with a straight-set win over UCLA's Emon van Loben Sels in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Sectional quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.

Homberg, the No. 103 singles player in the ITA rankings, was in control throughout the 6-2, 7-5 rout. Although the Pepperdine junior maintained a double-break lead in the first set, he answered the call in the second set when van Loben Sels strung together three games of solid play to tie the score at five games apiece. 

With the win, Homberg became one of three German Pepperdine tennis players to make the NCAA individual championships under head coach Adam Schaechterle and assistant coach Tassilo Schmid; the others are Adrian Oetzbach and Tim Zeitvogel, both of whom went on to become doubles All-Americans. Additionally, Pepperdine has sent singles players to the NCAAs in four straight seasons. Homberg will play for the ITA Sectionals singles title against Nevada's Youssef Kadiri tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Looking ready for the moment, Homberg dealt the first blow of the match by breaking van Loben immediately. Using his serve and forehand to set up winners, Homberg consolidated the break in the next game, quickly going up a break and taking a lead he would never relinquish. Although van Loben Sels found his footing in the third game, Homberg rallied back to force the first deciding point of the match before breaking the Bruin when the redshirt sophomore's return went long. Homberg then held serve in the fourth game to take a 4-0 lead.

To his credit, van Loben Sels held serve with an ace on deuce point in the fifth game, then the Bruin broke Homberg in the sixth game. But losing that break point sparked something in Homberg, who won the next six points. The Pepperdine junior won the first two points of the next game, then won a long rally to quickly go up 40-0 on van Loben Sels. On van Loben Sels' second serve, Homberg used a backhand return to win the ensuing break point and take a commanding 5-2 lead. He successfully served out the set for a 6-2 win, putting him one set away from the postseason.

But winning the second set wasn't easy.

Going up a break early, van Loben Sels took a 2-1 lead at the changeover. Homberg held serve in the fourth game, then broke van Loben Sels off an overhead at the doubles line that briefly swung momentum back in Homberg's favor. He then fended off the Bruin by holding serve in the fifth game before breaking van Loben Sels again to take a 5-2 advantage.

With his back against the wall, van Loben Sels played his best tennis of the match over the next three games. Winning 12 of the next 14 points, van Loben Sels took advantage of some Homberg misses and strung together some strong forehands to eventually tie the match at five games apiece. Pressure began to mount. Despite commanding the match, a third set suddenly seemed likely for Homberg.

Van Loben Sels went back to serve for the eleventh game and proceeded to win the first point. On the next point, Homberg took advantage of a soft return from van Loben Sels, charged the net, and evened the score with a forehand at van Loben Sels. Two Homberg forehands won the next point, then he eventually forced a break point. On the ensuing eight-hit rally, Homberg used both his forehand and backhand to set up an overhead shot at the net, which van Loben Sels returned long. 6-5, Homberg.

Serving for the match, Homberg went up 30-15 after his best second serve of the afternoon set up another winner. With the home crowd cheering him on, the junior punched his ticket to NCAAs with a backhand on the ad side that van Loben Sels returned wide.

RESULTS