ORLANDO, Fla. — Making his second career appearance at the NCAA Singles Championships, Pepperdine men's tennis junior Edward Winter will face off against Harvard's Melchior Delloye in the first round of the tournament Tuesday at 6 p.m. PT/3 p.m. PT.
Winter, the No. 16 player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Rankings, is making his second NCAA Singles Championship appearance as an unseeded player. All NCAA Tournament matches will be streamed on ESPN+; pertinent links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
HOW WINTER GOT HERE
Winter's collegiate fall season has been short, but effective. The junior from Adelaide, Australia made his collegiate fall debut at the ITA Conference Masters two weeks ago, where he needed just two matches to punch his ticket to NCAAs. He beat Memphis' Memphis' Maxime Dubouch 6-2, 7-6 (3) to make the semifinals and earn his bid.
However, Winter's fall season has been full of success on the pro tour. He made the finals of the ATP Fairfield Challenger in October, where he fell to Arizona senior Jay Friend — who happens to be the 1-seed in the NCAA Singles draw — in the final. All told, Winter has competed in six ATP Challenger events, winning 11 total matches.
Winter joins teammate Maxi Homberg as the only Waves to qualify for NCAAs under the current fall format. And by making his second NCAA individual appearance, Winter is the second player under Pepperdine Director of Tennis Adam Schaechterle to represent Pepperdine at multiple NCAA Singles Championships, joining Daniel De Jonge.
This year, Winter will go for his first postseason career. As a freshman, Winter qualified for the spring 2024 NCAA Singles Championship, where he fell in the first round to Tennessee's eventual All-American Shunsuke Mitsui. Should Winter win, he will be the first Wave since De Jonge to advance in the NCAA Singles draw.
ACROSS THE NET
Tuesday's first round match will be a battle between two players seeking their first NCAA Tournament wins. Harvard senior Melchior Delloye is making his first NCAA Tournament appearance after making the semifinals of the ITA East Sectional, where he needed to win three three-set matches to punch his ticket. He has an 8-6 record this fall with no wins over ranked opponents.
Last year, Delloye played in the middle of the Crimson lineup and posted an 18-8 record. He is one of two Harvard players to make the NCAA Singles Championships this year, joining his teammate Peter Benjamin Privara.
SCOUTING THE DRAW
Should Winter advance, he will face the winner between 6-seed Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois and fellow West Coast player Dominique Rolland of UC Santa Barbara. Winter has not faced either player in collegiate play. An All-American and the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, Miyoshi is ranked No. 6 in the latest ITA singles polls and has an 8-2 record this fall. No. 96 Rolland, on the other hand, is making his first NCAA Singles Championship appearance with an 8-5 record.
The aforementioned Arizona senior Friend looms in Winter's quadrant of the bracket, but the Fairfield Challenger rematch won't occur until the quarterfinals. Other seeded players include 9-16 seeds Petar Jovanovic of Mississippi State and Jeremy Jin of Florida.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S TENNIS
Pepperdine men's tennis has a longstanding tradition of success, highlighted by an NCAA Championship in 2006, which came 54 years after its first NAIA Championship in 1952. Robbie Weiss recorded the program's first NCAA singles championship in 1988 after the program saw doubles national championships in 1984 and 1985. 44-time WCC Champions, Pepperdine has reached 40 NCAA Tournaments and six NCAA Regionals in its history with 53 total All-Americans.
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