MALIBU, Calif. — Another thrilling chapter in the Pepperdine-San Diego men's tennis rivalry and Senior Day festivities highlight the final regular-season homestand for the No. 28 Pepperdine men's tennis team.
Pepperdine hosts No. 7 San Diego in its first-annual Beach Party match on Friday, April 18 at 2 p.m. Free tank tops will be given to the first 100 students and shaved ice will be free for all fans in attendance.
Then on Saturday, the Waves host Saint Mary's for Senior Day at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to stay after the match to recognize seniors Linus Carlsson Halldin and Chris Papa. Saturday also doubles as Aussie Day; free Australian food will be available for fans in attendance.
Admission to all home matches is free. Both matches will be livestreamed via PlaySight. All live stream and live stat links can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
MATCH 23: #28 Pepperdine (14-8, 4-1 WCC) vs. #7 San Diego (21-3, 6-0 WCC) | Friday, April 18 | 2 p.m. PT | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
MATCH 24: #28 Pepperdine (14-8, 4-1 WCC) vs. Saint Mary's (5-14, 2-3 WCC) | Saturday, April 19 | 2 p.m. PT | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
After a season of big upsets, competitive battles and rapid growth, the No. 28 Pepperdine Waves must answer one more question heading into the final week of the regular season.
Do they have one more ounce of Malibu magic in them?
Director of Tennis Adam Schaechterle and his Waves have been unkind to top-10 teams in Malibu this season. Back in February, the Waves upset No. 9 Texas A&M 6-1 in a match that showed the country what the Waves were capable of doing this season. One month later against No. 9 Columbia, the Waves proved their Malibu magic wasn't a fluke, as they rode Edward Winter's colossal upset over top singles player Michael Zheng to a 4-1 win under the lights.
For the third time this season, the Waves will battle a top-10 team at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, yet this match will be more heated, intense and more emotional than the others. With an outside shot at splitting the regular-season title and a top-16 berth on the line, Friday's match against the rival San Diego Toreros will reveal a lot about the Waves' character and postseason aspirations. As if the Pepperdine-San Diego rivalry needed higher stakes.
Led by No. 25 Edward Winter and the nation's second-ranked recruiting class, the Waves are a young group that has coalesced quickly into a surefire NCAA Tournament team. Despite playing without three players from last year's singles roster, Pepperdine has relied on freshmen Lasse Poertner, Aleksa Pisaric, David Fix and Hugh Winter to beat eight ranked teams this year. Pepperdine will need all four of them to step up in their first San Diego rivalry match.
The match between the elder Winter and San Diego's Oliver Tarvet will be appointment television. Winter, who has won nine of his last 10 matches, rose all the way up to 19th in the national rankings this year and rode an eight-match win streak earlier this season. With an improved serve, impressive footwork and a world-class backhand, Winter will need every weapon in his arsenal against Tarvet's grind-it-out style of play.
Despite playing several new doubles combinations over the weekend, the Waves have one nationally ranked pairing. The Winter brothers rose up to 60th in the ITA doubles rankings and have a 5-4 record atop the doubles ladder. Pepperdine's all-freshman team of Pisaric and Poertner has been a mainstay in the lineup; they lead the team with 13 dual-match wins. Both teams helped the Waves win the doubles point 15 times this year.
This week also marks the last regular-season home matches for captain Linus Carlsson Halldin and graduate student Chris Papa, both of whom have impacted the Waves this season.
Carlsson Halldin has come through in the clutch for the Waves, clinching Pepperdine's wins over Arizona State, Columbia and the team's first road win at UCLA since 2006. He has seven dual-match wins while playing mostly at the third position this year. The lefty is also one of the Waves' most successful doubles players, having 11 dual match wins while playing with three different doubles partners.
As for Papa, the former NAIA National Champion has been an effective doubles specialist for the Waves over the last two seasons. The graduate senior has a 4-2 record in dual match play, plus he has six singles wins this year while playing at the sixth position for the Waves.
Pepperdine has a 35-17 record and a 22-6 mark at home against San Diego. The Waves are a perfect 30-0 against the Gaels.
ACROSS THE NET
The story of West Coast Conference men's tennis cannot be told without the San Diego-Pepperdine rivalry. The Pepperdine Waves and San Diego Toreros have won every single league title since 1972, and one could argue that this rivalry put the WCC on the map. Every year, one of these two teams makes noise on the national stage. And each year, the two teams duke it out in thrilling, competitive matches.
This year is no exception.
Returning almost everyone from their WCC Championship title-winning team, the Toreros have been ranked in the top-20 all season, have three top-10 wins and boast one of the best college tennis players in No. 3 Oliver Tarvet. The 2024 ITA All-American Tournament Singles Champion is enjoying the best season of his career. Tarvet is 21-2, has lost just one three-set match all season and can claim wins over reigning NCAA Singles Champion Michael Zheng, TCU superstar Jack Pinnington Jones, plus a slew of All-Americans.
Far from being a one-man show, Tarvet is one of four Toreros with 20 singles wins this season. Teammates Savriyan Danilov, Neo Niedner and Stian Klaassen make the Toreros an energetic, experienced group that will be a tough out for almost any team in the nation. Not only that, USD has a top-five doubles team in Tarvet and Klaassen, who made the second round of the NCAA Doubles Championship and rank fourth in the nation.
Right now, USD has three players on significant singles win streaks. Stian Klaassen, USD's third singles player, is on an 11-match win streak dating back to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. No. 90 Savriyan Danilov has won his last five matches at the second position. And while Tarvet has only won his last five matches, that low figure might be deceptive; the junior's willingness to grind out long points and make every match a marathon means his matches often go unfinished.
Although injuries hamper both teams in this year's rivalry, the Toreros have gotten a boost from freshman Adrien Berrut, who plays in the lower half of the lineup. Berrut was the hero in USD's 4-3 win over Duke at the ITA National Indoor Championships, and he has stepped up all year to be a consistent contributor for the team. He will likely be the only newcomer in the Toreros' lineup.
The Toreros clinched a share of the WCC regular-season title last week, but a win over Pepperdine would make them the outright conference champions for the first time since 2022. Barring a collapse, San Diego is a lock for a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament and home-court advantage for at least the first two rounds. Yet if this conference tournament shakes out like usual, Friday could be the first of two meetings between the rivals. No love will be lost if both teams meet in the WCC Championships next week.
As for Saturday's opponent, the Saint Mary's Gaels are looking to snap a two-match losing skid this week against the L.A.-area schools. Head coach Greg Kennett's squad is hanging onto a conference tournament berth. Ranked fifth in the conference standings with a 2-3 record, the Gaels are one game ahead of Gonzaga, Portland and LMU. Fortunately for Saint Mary's, it owns the tiebreaker over the latter two teams, plus the Gaels will play LMU before facing the Waves. Barring anything drastic, a win over the Lions would ensure the Gaels' spot in the WCC Championships.
Senior Carlos Ramos Membrives leads the team with nine dual match wins and is on a two-match win streak heading into this week. However, the hottest player is Australian freshman Finn Dyer, who has won his last six matches while playing in the bottom half of the singles lineup. The Gaels have a winning record in just the first position, while on the flipside, they've struggled at the second and fifth positions all year.
Saint Mary's has won the doubles point seven times this season and twice in conference play. Five Gaels return from last year's lineup, which Pepperdine swept 4-0 in Moraga.
WHAT'S NEXT
Pepperdine will compete in the West Coast Conference Tennis Championships, held at San Diego State's Aztec Tennis Center from April 25-26. All pertinent information can be found on the men's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
