SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Making a return to West Coast Conference play, the No. 19 Pepperdine men's tennis team showed no signs of slowing down after sweeping No. 69 Santa Clara on the road on Sunday afternoon.
The Waves (12-6, 2-0 WCC) were the better team from start to finish: first by taking the doubles point over the Broncos (11-8, 2-2 WCC) in two lopsided wins, then by winning three straight-set matches. Chris Papa picked up his first WCC win of the season, and then No. 28 Edward Winter and Lasse Poertner won in straight sets to complete the sweep.
Making their season debut at the first doubles position, Papa and Winter broke Santa Clara's team of Luca Bluett and John Kim in the third game and didn't look back en route to a 6-1 win. With the Broncos serving in the seventh game, the Waves battled back after losing the first two points to break Santa Clara at deuce for the match.
One court over, Linus Carlsson Halldin and Maxi Homberg clinched the doubles point with their 6-2 win. Like their teammates, the Pepperdine veterans also broke their opponents at deuce for the match. After a long exchange with Tiago Boschmans and Luca Lemaitre, an inside-out forehand from Carlsson Halldin clipped the top of the net and bounced just inbounds on the ad side. The Broncos couldn't manage a return; the Waves went up 1-0.
In singles play, Pepperdine won five first sets en route to the quick sweep.
Chris Papa was the first Wave off the court. Despite going down an early break, the graduate senior broke Valentin Faure in the fourth game to put the match back on serve. Papa proceeded to win four consecutive games to get through his first set. Then in the second set, Papa led from wire-to-wire and served out his first WCC win of the season, 6-2, 6-3.
On court one, Edward Winter continued his recent streak of stellar play against Santa Clara's Alexander Watanabe Eriksson. Winter blazed through his first set, breaking Watanabe Eriksson in consecutive service games to go up 4-0. Although Watanabe Eriksson broke back in the fifth game and consolidated the break to make the score 4-2, the first set was played on serve until Winter won 6-3.
Watanabe Eriksson raised his level in the second set and broke Winter in the fourth game, yet the Pepperdine sophomore flipped the script midway through the set to win 6-3, 6-4. With the win, Winter has won seven straight singles matches and capped off a perfect month of March.
Not to be outdone by his teammate, freshman Lasse Poertner extended his team-best eight-match win streak to clinch the match on court three. Poertner was the first Wave through his first set; the freshman broke Luca Bluett in the fourth game, then consolidated the break on deuce point before winning his first set 6-1.
However, Bluett improved in the second set. The freshman saved a match point in the tenth game by breaking Poertner on deuce point to make the score 5-5. Yet Poertner broke back and served out his 6-1, 7-5 win.
Pepperdine returns home to host Pacific in a rematch of last year's WCC semifinal match. The match is scheduled for Friday, April 4 at 2 p.m. All schedule updates can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #28 Edward Winter (PEPP) def. Alexander Watanabe Eriksson (SCU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Luca Lemaitre (SCU) vs. #66 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) 6-4, 4-4, unfinished
3. Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Luca Bluett (SCU) 6-1, 7-5
4. David Fix (PEPP) vs. Lukas Maskow (SCU) 6-2, 6-6 (3-4), unfinished
5. Hugh Winter (PEPP) vs. John Kim (SCU) 6-4, 5-4, unfinished
6. Chris Papa (PEPP) def. Valentin Faure (SCU) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 6,1,3*
Doubles
1. Edward Winter/Chris Papa (PEPP) def. Luca Bluett/John Kim (SCU) 6-1
2. Linus Carlsson Halldin/Maxi Homberg (PEPP) def. Tiago Boschmans/Luca Lemaitre (SCU) 6-2
3. Alexander Watanabe Eriksson/Valentin Faure (SCU) vs. Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) 4-5, unfinished
Order of finish: 1,2*
