FORT WORTH, Texas — Facing the defending national champion #2 TCU Horned Frogs, the #21 Pepperdine men's tennis team fell 4-0 in a road match on Sunday afternoon.
The Horned Frogs (10-2) took the doubles point and won three straight-set matches to complete the sweep of the Waves (6-5, 1-0 West Coast Conference). Sunday's match was Pepperdine's fourth against a top-10 opponent this season.
In singles play, #53 Maxi Homberg and Aleksa Pisaric won their first sets at the second and fourth positions, respectively. Homberg was a bright spot for Pepperdine as he blitzed Pedro Vives in the first set and was on his way to a straight-set upset over the nation's No. 2 singles player before the match ended.
Setting the tone early, Homberg quickly went up a break on Vives with his dazzling array of passing shots, long rallies along the baseline and free-flowing tennis. After taking a 3-0 lead, Vives held serve in the fourth game for his lone service game win in the first set. On Vives' next service game, Homberg broke the TCU senior on deciding point for a 5-1 lead before serving out the 6-1, first-set win.
Homberg broke Vives to open the set before holding serve on deciding point for a break lead. Vives held serve in the third game, snapping Homberg's stretch of five consecutive games won, but the TCU senior made a push by breaking Homberg in the sixth game to put the match back on serve. But Homberg broke back in the next game off a backhand winner that put him up 4-3 at the changeover.
While Homberg blazed out to a first-set win, Pisaric won his first 6-2 over blue-chip freshman Cooper Woestendick. However, the Horned Frogs kept Pepperdine at arm's length on all remaining courts. TCU put up straight-set wins on courts six and three, then as Homberg went into the final changeover, the Horned Frogs clinched the match on court one when #22 Jack Pinnington held serve on deuce point for a 6-2, 6-4 win.
The Waves will head south to La Jolla on Thursday for a neutral-site match against Rice before playing in the 136h annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship. All pertinent information and updates can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #22 Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. #76 Edward Winter (PEPP) 6-2, 6-4
2. #53 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) vs. #2 Pedro Vives (TCU) 6-1, 4-3, unfinished
3. #11 Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP) 6-2, 6-1
4. Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) vs. Cooper Woestendick (TCU), 6-2, 2-5, unfinished
5. Lasse Poertner (PEPP) vs. #74 Duncan Chan (TCU) 4-6, 3-3, unfinished
6. Roger Pascual (TCU) def. David Fix (PEPP) 6-0, 6-0
Order of finish: 6,3,1*
Doubles
1. #2 Pedro Vives/Lui Maxted (TCU) def. Edward Winter/Hugh Winter (PEPP) 6-2
2. #69 Jack Pinnington/Cooper Woestendick (TCU) def. #67 Linus Carlsson Halldin/Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 6-3
3. Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) vs. Kaj Quirijns/Duncan Chan (TCU) 5-5 unfinished
Order of finish: 2,1*
