MALIBU, Calif. — In a match that started with a rain delay but ended under the gentle hum of the Ralphs-Straus tennis Center lights, the #28 Pepperdine men's tennis beat #47 Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders 6-1 on Tuesday.
The win was a full team effort. The Waves (9-5, 1-0 WCC) used a ranked upset from Edward Winter and Hugh Winter to clinch the doubles point before piling on singles wins against the Blue Raiders (9-9). Maxi Homberg and Aleksa Pisaric won in straight sets, setting up Lasse Poertner to clinch the match on court four. David Fix and Winter also tacked on wins to make the final score 6-1.
In doubles play, both teams traded lopsided wins on courts two and three, turning the attention towards court one to decide the doubles point. On one side of the net was Middle Tennessee State's 40th-ranked team of Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak — a pair of juniors who made the NCAA Doubles Championships. On the other side of the net was the Winter brothers Edward and Hugh, searching for a signature moment after finishing just five matches this spring.
The Winter brothers landed the first punch in the third game, breaking MTSU on deuce point when Hugh Winter skied in for a poach that landed between the Blue Raiders.
But the story was far from finished. Middle Tennessee broke Pepperdine in the sixth game to put the match back on serve, then both teams traded breaks and stayed on serve until the 11th game. The Winters went up 40-15, and the Blue Raiders fought off a break point, but Edward and Hugh broke through. The Blue Raiders quickly advanced to the net and challenged both Waves, but then Middle Tennessee shanked an inside-out forehand from Hugh. 6-5, Waves.
With Hugh back to serve, the freshman kept composure even after falling behind 30-15. Yet the Winters tied the score and took the lead on a backhand slice at the net from Edward before bringing up match point. Hugh served on the ad side to set up his older brother Edward, whose poach clinched the doubles point with a 7-5 win — the brothers' first victory over a ranked team.
Pepperdine didn't relent in singles play. Taking five first sets, the only thing that slowed the Waves down was a brief rain delay in the mid-afternoon.
But once play resumed and the teams found their rhythm again, the Waves increased their lead with a straight-set win from No. 47 Maxi Homberg on court two. Homberg and Karim Al-Amin played a close first set, which saw Homberg win the first break point in the sixth game before Al-Amin responded by breaking back in the seventh. The set was played on serve until the 12th and final game. After a rain delay during the changeover, Homberg came out of the break by winning the first three points before breaking Al-Amin at love when the Blue Raider's passing shot went long.
The second set was not as close as the first. Homberg broke Al-Amin in the fourth game before breaking him one final time for the match for the 7-5, 6-2 win.
Although Middle Tennessee got on the board with a win on court three, Pepperdine threw on the afterburners by winning three matches in a five-minute span. At the bottom of the lineup, Lasse Poertner, Aleksa Pisaric and David Fix were all one game away from winning their matches in straight-sets.
Pisaric got off the court first. In his first set, Pisaric led by a break and fended off Shu Matsuoka's comeback attempt as he broke Pisaric in the fourth game to put the match back on serve. With Matsuoka serving for the set up 5-4, Pisaric broke Matsuoka to flip the script before breaking Matsuoka once more to win the first set 7-5. His second set was much quicker. Pisaric broke Matsuoka on deciding point in the fourth game and didn't look back before winning 7-5, 6-2.
Moments later, Poertner clinched the match for the Waves with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Ondrej Horak. The pivotal moment in Poertner's first set came when he broke Horak in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead before the rain delay occurred.
After serving out the set, Poertner broke Horak in the third game for a 2-1 lead, then he broke Horak again at deuce when Horak netted a Poertner backhand. However, Horak broke back to make the score 5-3 before saving two match points in his final service game.
Yet that comeback attempt was short-lived. Poertner clinched the match by breaking Horak at deuce when Horak's cross-court return went wide.
The remaining two matches were played out. On court six, David Fix quickly chipped in with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Igor Mandou Berranger — Fix's sixth victory of the spring.
With the score showing 5-1, Pepperdine, the remaining spectators flocked to court one for No. 69 Edward Winter's match against freshman Kacper Szymkowiak. Going into the match, Szymkowiak had an 11-1 record that included a run of 10 consecutive wins to kick off his collegiate career. The 69th-ranked Winter was Szymkowiak's toughest test of the season to date.
The elder Winter needed to fend off Szymkowiak in the first set, eventually outlasting the Lithuanian 7-6 (4). By the time Fix got off court, Winter and Szymkowiak were midway through a close second set. Neither man budged until the breaker; Szymkowiak won the first two points and kept Winter at arm's length to counter with a 7-6 (4) win of his own.
At first, things didn't look promising for the Waves. After electing to play a full third set in lieu of a 10-point tiebreaker, Szymkowiak broke Winter in the first game and quickly went up a break for the majority of the set. Winter got close to breaking Szymkowiak back in the fourth game, when Szymkowiak rocketed four serves into the net. Yet Szymkowiak battled back and eventually held serve on deciding point.
As the sun set over Malibu, the match remained on serve until the ninth game. Winter once again forced a deciding point, putting pressure on Szymkowiak to serve out the match. Serving to Winter on the ad side, Szymkowiak tried moving Winter around the baseline, Winter countered with a forehand, then responded with a backhand winner before turning towards his teammates and pumping his fist.
Playing with newfound confidence, Winter's final service game was a gem: a love-hold capped off with another backhand winner. Needing to avoid a third tiebreak set, Winter broke Szymkowiak one final time under the hum of the overhead lights. With his teammates cheering him on, Winter broke Szymkowiak on match point with two backhands, capping off his 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #69 Edward Winter (PEPP) def. Kacper Szymkowiak (MTSU) 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5
2. #47 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) def. Karim Al-Amin (MTSU) 7-5, 6-2
3. Jakub Kroslak (MTSU) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP) 6-3, 6-3
4. Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Ondrej Horak (MTSU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) def. Shu Matsuoka (MTSU) 7-5, 6-2
6. David Fix (PEPP) def. Igor Mandou Berranger (MTSU) 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 2,3,5,4*,6,1
Doubles
1. Edward Winter/Hugh Winter (PEPP) def. #40 Karim Al-Amin/Ondrej Horak (MTSU) 7-5
2. Jakub Kroslak/Kacper Szymkowiak (MTSU) def. #72 Linus Carlsson Halldin/Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 6-2
3. Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Rostislav Halfinger/Shu Matsuoka (MTSU) 6-2
Order of finish: 2,3,1*
