MALIBU, Calif. — No. 24 Pepperdine men's tennis (4-2) will host a pair of marquee matches from Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center this weekend.
The Waves begin Friday with a match against No. 4 Stanford (6-0) at 2 p.m., before taking on No. 15 UCLA (3-2) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Students in attendance for Friday's match will receive a free Pepperdine tennis pocket t-shirt along with free Chick-Fil-A while supplies last.
Live scoring and streaming for each match can be found here.
The Waves are coming off a pair of wins against No. 24 Arizona State and South Florida this past Sunday and Tuesday, winning seven of nine singles matches in the process. Pepperdine swept the Sun Devils 4-0 before a 5-2 triumph over the Bulls at home.
Pepperdine moved up to No. 24 in the ITA Team rankings released earlier this week, and have maintained a spot in the top-25 all season to this point.
Lasse Poertner was named WCC Singles Player of the Week after earning wins over Arizona and Arizona State, while Hugh Winter and Edward Winter earned WCC Doubles Team of the Week. The Winter brothers have gone 3-0 at the No. 2 doubles position this season, coming in the most recent three matches.
Edward Winter has been strong at the No. 1 singles position for the Waves, earning a straight set win over No. 28 Hugo Car last time out. Winter is 3-1 this dual match season in singles. Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida and David Fix also boast 3-1 singles record this spring, with Hugh Winter having an unblemished 2-0 mark.
Poertner came in at No. 100 in the ITA singles rankings released this week, with Photos Photiades tabbing No. 117 and Aleksa Pisaric coming in at No. 124.
The fourth-ranked Cardinal enter play with a perfect 6-0 record this spring, with UCLA being the lone team to take two points in a match off of them. Stanford defeated WCC-foe Saint Mary's by a 4-0 score to open the season, and most recently earned a 4-1 win over No. 22 USC on Sunday. Stanford is led by Hudson Rivera (No. 53) and Alex Chang (No. 80) who each rank in the top-100 in the ITA singles rankings, while each being apart of a top-40 ranked doubles pairing.
The Waves are 9-29 all-time against the Cardinal, most recently seeing success with back-to-back wins in 2012 and 2013. The two sides have played three times in the past four seasons, with Stanford coming away victorious in each, including a 4-0 win this past season in the NCAA Round of 32. Three Bruins currently rank in the top-125 in the ITA singles rankings, with the team having a pair of doubles teams in the top-60.
The 15th-ranked Bruins have a 3-2 record this season, boasting wins over UC Irvine, New Mexico and No. 23 Cal. UCLA fell 4-2 at Stanford this past weekend, and was previously defeated by UC Santa Barbara.
Pepperdine is 18-52 all-time against UCLA, including an 8-12 mark in Malibu. The Waves defeated the Bruins 4-2 on the road this past spring.
The Waves will return with a road match at No. 13 USC next Friday (Feb. 13) at 1:30 p.m.
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.
FOLLOW
To stay up-to-date on the latest Pepperdine men's tennis news, follow the Waves on social media: @PepperdineMTEN.
