MALIBU, Calif. — The biggest weekend of Pepperdine's men's tennis season to date is just around the corner.

Making their return to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center after playing indoors last week, the Waves host PCH Cup rival LMU and #9 Texas A&M this weekend, starting with Saturday's match at LMU at 2 p.m.

How big is this weekend for Pepperdine? Consider the rivalry match against LMU is merely the undercard for Sunday's match against #9 Texas A&M. Free coffee and doughnuts will be served to fans in attendance on Sunday. First serve is at noon.

As always, admission to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center is free to the public. Both 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.

MATCH 5: Pepperdine (2-2) vs. LMU (1-3) | Saturday, Feb. 1 | 2 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.

MATCH 6: Pepperdine (2-2) vs. #9 Texas A&M (3-0) | Sunday, Feb. 2 | Noon | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.

SCOUTING THE WAVES

After splitting a pair of matches at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend, Pepperdine returns to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center with a full squad and confidence from picking up its first Power-4 win of the season.

With former ITA Southwest Regional Rookie of the Year and NCAA Tournament qualifier Edward Winter back in the lineup after playing overseas, the Waves will be at full strength for the first time at home.

Winter's return was noticeable in Pepperdine's three road matches last week: The sophomore went 2-1 at the top spot in the singles lineup, plus he teamed up with his younger brother Hugh Winter to make a dynamic pairing atop Pepperdine's doubles lineup. The Winter brothers won their maiden collegiate match against UT Arlington, plus they were moments away from a potential top-30 upset against LSU's Julian Penzlin and Aleksi Lofman last Sunday before the Waves clinched the doubles point.

Depth in doubles has been an early bright spot for the Waves. Despite using one doubles team from last season, head coach Adam Schaechterle's squad has won the doubles point in three out of the four matches this season. All of the teams are virtually interchangeable: Maxi Homberg and Linus Carlsson Halldin have a perfect 3-0 record playing across the lineup, freshmen Aleksa Pisaric and Lasse Poertner are 3-1 and have dominated lower-lineup competition, plus the aforementioned Winter brothers give the Waves another option.

Winning the doubles point against Texas A&M can provide a path to a top-10 upset this weekend. The Aggies have won the doubles point only once this season, and that was against UTSA.

Pepperdine has two players carrying multi-match win streaks heading into this weekend: Carlsson Halldin and freshman David Fix, who play primarily at the third and sixth spots, respectively. Although All-American #36 Homberg is the lone ranked singles player, he and Edward Winter give the Waves a solid top-two in the singles ladder.

Sunday's match against Texas A&M will feature just two ranked singles players across both teams, but that number doesn't tell the whole story. In terms of UTR, Texas A&M has the 10th-best UTR rating in the nation, while Pepperdine is 25th. 

ACROSS THE NET

Coming off a three-match road trip in Arizona two weeks ago, LMU is searching for its first road win of the season in what has been a gauntlet of an opening month. 
The Lions beat UC Riverside 5-2 in the season-opener, yet dropped matches at #23 Arizona State, New Mexico State (in Phoenix) and GCU in the span of three days. The road doesn't get easier from here: Matches in Tucson, Ariz. against the #11 Arizona Wildcats and Utah State are on deck next week.

This weekend, however, LMU faces the tall task of facing a Pepperdine team that swept them 4-0 last season. LMU has won just one match against Pepperdine at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center — a 4-3 decision in 2019 — but has a 3-29 all-time record against its PCH Cup rivals. 

But the true test for the weekend is #9 Texas A&M.

Riding high after punching their ticket to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, the Aggies moved into the top 10 of the ITA rankings thanks to beating #20 UCLA and #23 Harvard last weekend. Head coach Steve Denton's squad has it all: Strong doubles teams, dynamic Power-4 transfers and talented spring additions, making the Aggies a real threat to make a deep postseason run.

The Aggies' singles lineup boasts one ranked singles player in #60 JC Roddick and two doubles teams: #24 Togan Tokac and Giulio Perego, plus #48 Luke Casper and Tokac. Yet the highlight of the team so far is first-year Frenchman Theo Papamalamis, a top-700 ATP player who clinched the Aggies' win over #23 Harvard to send the team to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Palamalamis has a perfect 3-0 record at the top spot in the lineup.

Texas A&M is the second of nine NCAA Tournament teams Pepperdine will face at home this season. Pepperdine leads the all-time series 9-7, yet the Aggies won the last three matches. Sunday will be Texas A&M's first trip to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center since 2011.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Waves head to the Grand Canyon State for matches against #23 Arizona State and #11 Arizona, starting with a match against the #23 Sun Devils on Thursday, Feb. 6. All schedule updates can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.