TUCSON, Ariz. — The #25 Pepperdine Waves completed their top-25 road trip to Arizona with a 4-0 sweep at the hands of the #10 Arizona Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.
"I saw a lot of guys today that looked pretty happy to be top 25," Head coach Adam Schaechterle said. "Our coaching staff did a terrible job having them ready to compete with an edge. We have huge respect for this Arizona program, and to win here on the road requires guts and toughness. I'm disappointed that the Waves didn't come ready to battle."
Making a return to the site of last year's NCAA Tournament appearance, the Waves (5-3) went down early to the Wildcats (8-1) in doubles play before Lasse Poertner and Aleksa Pisaric countered with a 6-3 match at the third position. Unfortunately for Pepperdine, the Wildcats clinched the deuce point on court two moments later.
The Wildcats continued to roll by winning all six first sets. One exception to Arizona's straight-set results in singles was Edward Winter, who pushed his match against #3 Colton Smith to a third set while playing high-level tennis throughout it all.
Despite seeing Smith — who recently entered the ATP top-300 with his first Challenger win earlier this month — rally back from being down a break in set one, Winter responded in the second set by trading breaks with the Wildcat senior in the second game, in which he went up 40-0 before breaking Smith two points later. Facing the second deciding point of the set in game three, Winter held serve then broke Smith in the following game when he sailed an offspeed backhand slice over Smith at the net.
Winter's fifth game was a serving masterclass. The Australian sophomore's love hold featured two aces — including one on game point — to hold for a 4-1 lead. He broke Smith on deuce point in the sixth game before Smith broke back and consolidated the break to chip away at Winter's lead. Yet it wasn't enough. Winter held serve in the second set with an ace on match point, pushing his match to a third set.
However, in the span of 10 minutes, the Wildcats posted straight-set wins on courts six, two and three to finish off the sweep.
From here, Pepperdine returns to Malibu to host cross-town rival USC on Friday. First serve is at 2 p.m.
RESULTS
Singles
1. Edward Winter (PEPP) vs. #3 Colton Smith (ARIZ) 4-6, 6-3, 0-1, unfinished
2. #5 Jay Friend (ARIZ) def. #32 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 6-4, 7-5
3. #55 Zoran Ludoski (ARIZ) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP) 6-3, 6-3
4. Casper Christensen (ARIZ) vs. Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) 6-4, 5-3, unfinished
5. Filip Gustafsson (ARIZ) vs. Lasse Poertner (PEPP) 7-5, 4-4, unfinished
6. Alexander Rozin (ARIZ) def. David Fix (PEPP) 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 6,2,3*
Doubles
1. Iñaki Cabrera-Bello/Colton Smith (ARIZ) def. Edward Winter/Hugh Winter (PEPP) 6-2
2. Jay Friend/Eric Padgham (ARIZ) def. #51 Linus Carlsson Halldin/Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 6-4
3. Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Filip Gustafsson/Zoran Ludoski (ARIZ) 6-3
Order of finish: 1,3,2*
