MALIBU, Calif. — It may be early in the West Coast Conference schedule, yet the #39 Pepperdine men's tennis team will square off with the #12 San Diego Toreros in arguably the most consequential match of WCC play on Friday.
The match between the WCC's top two teams was initially scheduled for Saturday, yet the weather forecast in the San Diego area prompted the schedule change. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. Live stream and live stat links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
Earlier this season, the Toreros were picked to finish first in the WCC preseason poll by a slim three-point margin over Pepperdine. Although the Toreros won the regular-season matchup in Malibu last year, the Waves avenged the close loss with a resounding 4-0 sweep in the WCC Championship match. USD has won three of the last five matches between the two teams.
MATCH 17: #39 Pepperdine (7-9, 1-0 WCC) at #12 San Diego (14-2, 1-0 WCC) | Friday, March 27 | 1 p.m. | Barnes Tennis Center | San Diego, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Winners of their last two matches, the Pepperdine Waves come to San Diego after playing a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule. Although the Waves are 7-9 so far, they've faced five top-25 teams — including three current top-10 teams — and have four wins over ranked opponents.
The Waves are figuring out the right combinations in doubles play. George Davis and Linus Carlsson Halldin are rounding into form at the first position, while Edward Winter and Pietro Fellin have a 7-2 record in dual-match play. Their seven wins are tied for the lead on the team.
Pepperdine has two nationally ranked singles players in #35 Winter and #121 Fellin, the latter of whom comes into the match with a team-best four-match win streak, including the match-clinching win over Gonzaga. That duo has held down the top of the Waves' lineup recently, yet the Waves have finished off most of their matches with the back half of its lineup. Zach Stephens and Robert Shelton have been interchangeable in the fourth-through-sixth positions, and both players have won match-clinching draws recently. Interestingly, the Waves have a winning record at the fourth-through-sixth positions, while the top of the lineup is hovering around .500.
Predictably, there is a lot of history between the Waves and the Toreros. The two teams crossed paths at the ITA Southwest Regional, where Pepperdine players went 1-2 against the Toreros in singles play. The lone win came courtesy of Winter, who beat Sacchitt Sharrma in three sets.
SCOUTING THE TOREROS
Ranked 12th in the latest ITA polls, the preseason WCC favorites enter Friday's match on a five-match win streak — three of which were against ranked opponents. So far, USD has shut out opponents five times en route to compiling a 14-2 record and a perfect 1-0 start to conference play with a win over San Francisco.
Five singles players from USD's lineup return from last year's WCC Championship match. Led by the nation's No. 7 singles player Oliver Tarvet and #100 Iiro Vasa — whose brother Eero played for Pepperdine last year — the Toreros have three players with perfect records in dual match play. Of those three, Stian Klaassen has a stellar 13-0 record in the back half of the lineup, Neo Niedner is a perfect 6-0 while playing primarily at the sixth position, and seldom-used Nikhil Niranjan is 1-0 this spring after going 9-4 in the fall.
In doubles, the Toreros have one nationally ranked team in #60 Sacchitt Sharrma and Stian Klaassen, who haven't played together since Feb. 19. USD has two duos with four-match win streaks heading into Friday: Nikhil Niranjan and Oliver Tarvet, plus Tarvet and Vasa. However, the Toreros have been versatile in doubles by rolling out 10 different combinations during dual-match play.
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