STANFORD, Calif. — The No. 25 Pepperdine men's tennis team's season came to an end with a 4-0 loss to the 4-seed Stanford Cardinal at the Taube Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinal (24-5) took the doubles point and won four first sets en route to completing the sweep. Although the Waves (17-11) pushed two matches to third sets, Pepperdine waited too long to land a counter-punch in the two-hour, 20-minute match.
Stanford took control of the match early. Twenty minutes into the match, the Cardinal won break points on the second and third doubles positions, which ended up turning the tide of the doubles point. Although Edward Winter and Hugh Winter saved a match point on court one and began to climb out of a 5-3 deficit, the Cardinal's team of No. 48 Samir Banerjee and Alex Razeghi broke the Waves on deciding point for a 6-3 win on court one. A few minutes later, Stanford won the doubles point with another 6-3 win at the second position.
Maxi Homberg and David Fix won their first sets at the second and sixth positions, respectively, to open singles play. However, Stanford took four first sets across the board to put the Waves in a massive hole. One hour and 43 minutes into the match, Stanford took a 2-0 lead with a straight-set win on court four, forcing the Waves to push several matches to third sets to keep their upset hopes alive.
Sophomore No. 21 Edward Winter answered the call on court one, putting together a stellar second set against No. 7 Samir Banerjee after dropping the first set 6-4. Winter broke Banerjee in the second game, then rattled off 10 consecutive points to take a double-break lead on the Cardinal junior. Banerjee finally held serve in the sixth game and broke Winter in the seventh, yet Winter broke right back to win the second set 6-2 and keep Pepperdine in the fight.
But the Cardinal pushed the matches on courts two and six to third sets, keeping Pepperdine off the scoreboard for yet another hour as the match passed the two-hour mark. Finally, the dam burst. Stanford won a three-set match on court six, then Nico Godsick clinched the match with a straight-set win on court five to send the Cardinal to the Super Regional.
Pepperdine's 17-11 record was a three-win improvement over last season. This season was the fourth time in the last five years that the Waves reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #21 Edward Winter (PEPP) vs. #7 Samir Banerjee (STAN), 4-6, 6-2, 2-1 unfinished
2. #86 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) vs. Kyle Kang (STAN), 6-3, 4-6, 2-1 unfinished
3. #101 Max Basing (STAN) vs. Lasse Poertner (PEPP), 6-2, 5-6 unfinished
4. #73 Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP), 6-0, 6-3
5. Nico Godsick (STAN) def. Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP), 7-5, 6-4
6. Alex Razeghi (STAN) def. David Fix (PEPP), 2-6, 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 4,6,5
Doubles
1. #70 Nico Godsick/Hudson Rivera (STAN) vs. #80 Edward Winter/Hugh Winter (PEPP), 5-3 unfinished
2. #47 Kyle Kang/Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN) def. Maxi Homberg/Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP), 6-3
3. #48 Samir Banerjee/Alex Razeghi (STAN) def. Lasse Poertner/Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP), 6-3
Order of finish: 3,2*
