MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's tennis team kicks off the 2025 season at home against UC Irvine this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Admission to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center is free to the public and all home matches will be livestreamed for free via PlaySight. All pertinent links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
For fans planning on attending the match, access to campus is limited to Kanan Road and Pacific Coast Highway north of campus. The John Tyler Drive entrance gate is the only open access point to campus. Malibu Canyon and PCH south of campus remain closed as of press time. Please check all viable routes before departing for Pepperdine.
MATCH 1: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. UC Irvine (0-0) | Saturday, Jan. 28 | 1 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Expectations are high for head coach Adam Schaechterle in his seventh season. Making the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and winning the West Coast Conference are entirely feasible goals for Pepperdine, which has established itself as one of the nation's best mid-major programs.
On paper, the Waves have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the 2025 season: Reigning ITA Southwest Regional Rookie of the Year Edward Winter and ITA All-American #36 Maxi Homberg highlight a roster of six returning players, plus the nation's second-ranked recruiting class according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.
The Waves will be loaded. A top-300 ATP player coming off his fourth-straight Australian Open appearance, Winter is expected to lead the Waves this season after putting together a solid debut season. He will be joined by #36 Homberg, who enjoyed a breakout fall season that saw him earn ITA All-American honors and reach the round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championship. Fellow returners Zach Stephens and senior captain Linus Carlsson Halldin were responsible for a combined 20 dual singles wins last year.
However, the Waves have five international newcomers who could make immediate impacts this year. Incoming freshmen David Fix, Lasse Poertner, Aleksa Pisaric and Hugh Winter — Edward's younger brother — will replace four seniors from last year's NCAA Tournament team. Thanks to Fix (#6), Poertner (#14) and Pisaric (#15), Pepperdine was the only team with three players in the ITA's top-20 Newcomer Rankings, which were released in August.
Although the Waves will have a blank slate in doubles, Schaechterle's squads have historically excelled in doubles play. Last season, the Waves won the doubles point 16 times and closed the year by winning the doubles point in eight of the team's nine matches. Pepperdine returns just one consistent doubles team from last year in Homberg and Chris Papa, whose blend of athleticism and fast-paced play has been successful in the past. Last year the duo went 7-5 and clinched the doubles point twice in postseason play at the second position.
ACROSS THE NET
Coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024 after winning the Big West Tournament Championships, UC Irvine is a team on the rise in the Big West.
The Anteaters boast five singles players who had winning records in the fall season. Chief among those is senior #31 Noah Zamora, who pulled off one of the major first-round upsets in the NCAA Singles Championship over Notre Dame's #28 Sebastian Dominko. In doubles, the Anteaters used 13 different combinations this fall, yet the duo of Hiroki Sakagawa and Zamora is expected to take over as the top doubles team after playing the second position last year.
The Anteaters will host UCLA on Friday before heading to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. UC Irvine is the first of 16 NCAA Tournament teams Pepperdine will face this year, and the first of nine postseason squads that will come to Malibu this season.
Pepperdine leads the all-time series 48-6 over UC Irvine and has won the last 23 matches. The Waves' last match against UC Irvine was a 4-0 home win in 2023, which saw the Waves fend off the Anteaters in a closely contested doubles point before Pepperdine won all three singles matches in straight sets.
WHAT'S NEXT
Pepperdine will travel to Dallas for a match against UT Arlington next Wednesday, Jan. 22 before heading to Starkville, Miss. for the ITA Kickoff Weekend against #11 Mississippi State next Saturday. All schedule updates can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
