MALIBU, Calif. — Fresh off of its first win of the season, the Pepperdine men's tennis team plays in the Starkville Regional of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend, starting this Saturday.
The Waves will face the hosting #9 Mississippi State Bulldogs in the opening match on Saturday at noon PT. Pepperdine's second match of the weekend will be against either #22 NC State or LSU on Sunday at a time that has yet to be determined. All live stream and live stat links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
Should the Waves win both matches, they will make the program's 26th appearance at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, which will be held in Dallas and Waco, Texas from Feb. 14-18. The Waves last appearance in the ITA National Indoor Championships was 2009.
MATCH 3: Pepperdine (1-1) vs. #9 Mississippi State (5-0) | Saturday, Jan. 25 | 12 p.m. PT | Rula Tennis Pavilion | Starkville, Miss.
MATCH 4: Pepperdine (1-1) vs. #22 NC State (2-1) / LSU (2-0) | Sunday, Jan. 26 | TBA | Rula Tennis Pavilion | Starkville, Miss.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
With four matches in the first eight days of the season, Pepperdine will hit the ground running to open the 2025 campaign.
After the season-opener last Saturday against UCI, head coach Adam Schaechterle's squad righted the ship with a 5-2 win over UT Arlington indoors on Wednesday. That win saw sophomore Edward Winter make his season debut with a three-set win atop the Waves' lineup, plus four Waves pick up their first singles wins of the spring.
One constant in the first two matches of the year has been the youth movement in Pepperdine's lineup. Four freshmen have been in the lineup over the last two matches, and all four players have one college singles win under their belts. Lasse Poertner, Aleksa Pisaric, Hugh Winter and David Fix played at the third-through-sixth spots in the lineup in both matches. All four players contributed with singles wins in both matches so far.
The top of Pepperdine's singles lineup could be stronger than what it was a year ago. This weekend could be the first time Winter — the reigning ITA Southwest Regional Rookie of the Year — and All-American #36 Maxi Homberg are in the lineup together. This will be the first time Pepperdine's lineup features multiple NCAA Singles qualifiers under Schaechterle.
In doubles, Pepperdine has played with five different combinations. Wednesday's win featured the Winter brothers, Edward and Hugh, team up in college for the first time. The Winters won 6-4 in their maiden collegiate match atop Pepperdine's doubles lineup, but the brothers have played in seven juniors and pro tournaments together. The Waves also have an experienced duo in Linus Carlsson Halldin and Homberg at their disposal, plus Pisaric and Poertner have shown early promise at the second position.
Few college tennis teams will be tested like the Waves this January. Pepperdine's first four opponents made the NCAA Tournament last year, and all three teams in the Starkville Regional were NCAA Tournament teams.
ACROSS THE NET
Despite being 2,000 miles away, the Pepperdine and Mississippi State tennis programs have an interesting shared history. Most Pepperdine tennis supporters know two former Mississippi State Bulldogs: Former Pepperdine women's head coach Per Nilsson (who coached the Bulldog men from 2007-13) and one of Nilsson's former players, Tassilo Schmid, the former Pepperdine associate men's tennis coach and current interim head coach of the women's team.
This Saturday is the first time both teams will play in Starkville and the first meeting between them since 2003. The Bulldogs own a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series, yet all of those matches were played at neutral sites.
Ranked #9 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are coming off a 19-8 season and a Super Regional appearance in 2024. So far, the Bulldogs have swept all opponents en route to a 5-0 record, which raised them two spots in the latest ITA coaches' poll this week. However, Pepperdine will be the first quality opponent Mississippi State takes on this spring.
Coming off an NCAA doubles quarterfinal appearance, All-Americans Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez highlight a roster that features four ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams. The former top doubles team in the nation, #9 Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez have not only clinched the doubles point three times for the Bulldogs this season, but also split time atop Mississippi State's singles lineup.
In singles, #45 Jovanovic, #72 Niccolo Baroni, #81 Mario Martinez Serrano and #103 Sanchez Martinez highlight a loaded roster. The Bulldogs haven't played a three-set singles match this spring.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Waves wrap up the ITA Kickoff Weekend against either #22 NC State or LSU on Sunday. LSU (2-0) will be truly tested for the first time this weekend, but NC State (2-1) is coming off a 5-2 home loss to #21 Harvard on Tuesday.
Pepperdine leads the all-time series with LSU 9-4 with the Waves' last win occurring in 2013. The Waves and the NC State Wolfpack have never played a dual match against each other.
From there, Pepperdine returns to Malibu next weekend to host LMU and Texas A&M on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. First serve for both matches is at 2 p.m.
