MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's tennis team will head to the San Francisco Bay Area for a pair of matches against #17 Stanford and California, starting this Friday against the Cardinal.
Friday's match is scheduled for 2 p.m., while Sunday's match at California begins at 11 a.m. All pertinent live stream and live stat links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
MATCH 4: Pepperdine (1-2) at #17 Stanford (2-3) | Friday, Feb. 9 | 2 p.m. | Stanford, Calif.
MATCH 5: Pepperdine at California (2-3) | Sunday, Feb. 11 | 11 a.m. | Berkeley, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Taking its first road trip in dual singles play, the Waves are looking to get back in the win column after hard-fought losses to #16 Michigan State and #20 Arizona State. Both matches at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center came down to the wire: A three-set match on the final singles match was the difference-maker against ASU, while Michigan State needed two matches to break right late to put away the Waves.
Pepperdine made recent progress in doubles against the Sun Devils, as a change in the lineups helped the Waves win their first doubles point of the season in a thrilling fashion. Pietro Fellin and Edward Winter played together for the first time all season and helped the Waves clinch the doubles point with a come-from-behind, 7-6 (4) win at the second position. In a promising sign for the Waves, Linus Carlsson Halldin and George Davis made their spring debuts after earning an at-large berth to the ITA National Fall Championships. The duo easily cruised to a 6-1 win at the third position last Friday.
Elsewhere in doubles, Pepperdine has one ranked singles team of Maxi Homberg and Edward Winter, who ranked No. 46 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls.
In singles, Fellin is Pepperdine's lone undefeated singles player in dual match play with a 3-0 record — all of which have been in straight sets. Winter, who ranks #28 in the nation in singles, is the Waves' lone ranked singles player and has been battle-tested all year. Winter earned his highest-ranked singles win over then-No. 12 Ronnie Hohmann III of Michigan State earlier this month, yet fell to #10 Murphy Cassone of ASU last week.
With a 2-1 record in singles, Homberg has found his rhythm as of late, notching two straight-set wins while seeing his lone loss came to a top-60 opponent in #59 Max Sheldon of Michigan State.
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
Stanford's 2-3 record could be deceiving. Despite carrying a 2-3 record into Friday's match, the #17 Cardinal have been through a gauntlet this spring, facing off with four ranked teams — all on the road — and having one of those matches come down to the final singles point. This weekend marks the first time since Jan. 18 that the Cardinal have played at home.
So far, Stanford has three ranked singles players in #31 Samir Banerjee, #77 Neel Rajesh, #92 Kyle Kang, yet no ranked doubles teams. Banerjee, a sophomore, has a 2-2 record in dual singles play with both wins coming at the first position. Playing at the fifth and sixth positions, Rajesh is responsible for both of the Cardinal's clinch points this season. The former blue-chip recruit Kyle Kang rounds out the Cardinal's ranked singles players with a 2-2 record while playing anywhere from the second through fourth positions.
In doubles, Stanford has won the doubles point twice this year — both times occurred in the team's wins. The Cardinal used the momentum from winning the doubles point to sweep Saint Mary's 7-0 in the season opener and sweep #22 Memphis 4-0 in the opening round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
The start of dual match season has been unpredictable for the Golden Bears, who had to overcome several match postponements in January before needing to rely on underclassmen to get through the ITA Kickoff Weekend against Middle Tennessee State and NC State.
Now riding a two-match win streak over UC Davis heading into this weekend, California is looking for its first win over a West Coast Conference program at home. Earlier this year, the Golden Bears fell 4-3 at home to Santa Clara, which kicked off a three-game skid to start the season.
The Golden Bears have one ranked doubles team in #59 Alex Chang and Carl Emil Overbeck, however, they have yet to compete together in dual-match play. Against UC Davis last weekend, California used six different doubles teams to clinch the doubles point both times.
Four players return from the squad that Pepperdine beat 4-3 last spring: Ryder Jackson, Derrick Chen, Carl Emil Overbeck and Lucas Magnaudet. Emil Overbeck has been a fixture at the first position, while Jackson has played primarily on the second and third lines. Yet freshman Timofey Stepanov has a team-leading 4-1 record while playing toward the back half of the Golden Bears' lineup.
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