Pepperdine University
ITA Conference Masters
11/8/2026 8:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis
ROME, Ga. – Pepperdine men's tennis saw juniors Aleksa Pisaric and Lasse Poertner qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championships later this month, with Pisaric also punching his ticket for the NCAA Singles Championships at ITA Conference Masters this week in Rome, Ga.
The Waves will now have three singles players in the draw, as Poertner and David Fix each earned berths last month at ITA Southwest Regionals.
The NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships will take place from Nov. 17-22 from Athens, Ga., hosted by the University of Georgia. The full brackets will be released tomorrow at 1 p.m. PT by the NCAA.
The Waves are one of eight programs with three or more players earning a spot in the NCAA singles draw.
"Pepperdine tennis has a proud tradition of success competing at the highest level of college tennis," said assistant coach Max Koller. "We are excited to have three players earn four bids to represent the Waves community and West Coast tennis at the NCAA Championships in Athens. It was a special effort from Aleksa, who secured the final singles bid and teamed up with Lasse to earn the final doubles bid following a strong showing at the collegiate tournament in Rome. Both players embody what we are building at Pepperdine, a commitment to team culture, shared values, and continued development toward the professional level. We are proud of the way our guys have competed and represented our program, and we look forward to competing together in Athens next week. Go Waves!"
The tandem of Pisaric and Poertner got the week started with a round of 16 victory in doubles against UTRGV, winning the first set in a tiebreak before claiming the second set, 7-5.
Returning in the quarterfinals with the NCAA berth at stake, the Waves matched up with Texas Tech's Niksa Arsic and Thiago Guglieri. After dropping the first set 4-6, the Waves forced a third with a tiebreak win in the second set. Pepperdine then won the 10-point breaker convincingly to clinch their spot in Athens, 10-2.
Pisaric began his singles run with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Southern Alabama's Jovan Lubbe in the round of 32. He went on to cruise to a 6-0, 6-2 victory in the round of 16 against Cal Poly's Jules Caby.
Pisaric then matched up with Mississippi State's Bryan Hernandez Cortes in a quarterfinal matchup with the berth to NCAAs on the line, with the match eventually going the distance. Pisaric claimed the first set 6-4 before falling 3-6 in set two. The third set would go to a tiebreak, with Pisaric prevailing 7-4 to punch his ticket to Athens for the second time this weekend.
Pepperdine's results for the tournament can be found below with the full results here.
ITA CONFERENCE MASTERS
Doubles
Round of 16
No. 19 Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. Paolo Benedicto Bonaguro La Roche/Santiago Serrano Huidobro (UTRGV): 7-6(6), 7-5
Quarterfinals
No. 19 Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (PEPP) def. No. 86 Niksa Arsic/Thiago Guglieri (TTU): 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-2
Singles
Round of 32
No. 72 Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) def. Jovan Lubbe (USA): 7-6(4), 6-3
Round of 16
No. 72 Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) def. Jules Caby (POLY): 6-0, 6-2
Quarterfinals
No. 72 Aleksa Pisaric (PEPP) def. No. 61 Bryan Hernandez Cortes (MSU): 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4)
ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S TENNIS
Pepperdine men's tennis has a longstanding tradition of success, highlighted by an NCAA Championship in 2006 which came 54 years after its first NAIA Championship in 1952. Robbie Weiss recorded the program's first NCAA singles championship in 1988 after the program saw doubles national championships in 1984 and 1985. 44-time WCC Champions, Pepperdine has reached 40 NCAA Tournaments and six NCAA Regionals in its history with 53 total All-Americans.
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