The Waves are looking to win their second national title in three years.
By Seth Rubinroit / Special to The Malibu Times
The Pepperdine University men’s tennis teams defeated the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday, 4-2, in the second round of the NCAA tournament at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on the Pepperdine campus. With the win, the No. 13 Waves (20-6) advanced to the Round of 16, where they will play the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs (23-3) Friday in Tulsa, Okla.
The match started poorly for Pepperdine as Stanford (13-9) easily won the doubles point. Then, in the singles competition, the Waves’ top two players, No. 11 Andre Begemann and No. 37 Bassam Beidas, both won their first sets, 6-0, and gained the momentum for Pepperdine. Begemann went on to upset No. 7 Alex Clayton (6-0, 6-3) of Stanford, and Beidas defeated No. 80 Matt Bruch (6-0, 6-4). The Waves’ Mahmoud Kamel also defeated Phil Kao (7-5, 6-0). That left Pepperdine’s Rikus de Villiers, who knew that if he won his match, he would seal the victory for the Waves.
“It’s a great feeling to know everything is in your hands,” de Villiers said. “I like the pressure. You have to like it to handle your job.”
De Villiers rallied to defeat Stanford’s Gregory Hirshman (7-6, 3-6, 6-2) to clinch the victory for the Waves.
“Today’s match was the most amazing match I have ever coached,” said Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg, who led the Waves to the national championship in 2006. “We were down in the match, we were down in the doubles, and we just fought.”
The Waves advanced to the second round by defeating the Hawaii Warriors, 4-0, on Saturday.
The Waves had the advantage of playing on their home court for the opening rounds in front of hundreds of cheering fans.
“I am so glad we were able to host this year,” Begemann said. “It makes a big difference playing in front of the home crowd on the home court. It is amazing for me having two more matches here as a senior.”
In addition to participating in the NCAA Team Championships, the Waves will send Begemann and Beidas to the NCAA Individual tournament, and the No. 24 team of Begemann and Omar Altmann to the doubles tournament. Those tournaments will also be in Tulsa.
Begemann, a senior from Blomberg, Germany, has led the Waves the entire season. A 2007 All-American, he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year this season for the second time. In addition, he was named to the All-WCC first team in singles as well as All-WCC first team in doubles with partner Altmann. These awards helped Begemann secure the 2008 Pepperdine Athlete of the Year Award at the first annual Student-Athlete Awards Banquet. Beidas joined Begemann on the All-WCC first team in singles.
This has been a successful season for the Waves. After losing five of their first six matches, Pepperdine rallied to win their final 12 regular season matches. In addition, they won three matches in the conference tournament on their way to becoming WCC champions.
The Waves believe they can add to their impressive seventeen game winning streak.
“We want to win it all,” Beidas said of the NCAA Team championship. “That is our goal. People underestimate us because we had such a tough start to the season, which is why we are ranked so low. But, I think we can go all the way.”
Women’s team loses
in second round
Pepperdine’s women’s tennis team ended its season in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday with a 4-0 loss to USC at USC’s Marks Stadium. The loss came one day after Pepperdine (20-5) opened the tournament with a 4-0 win over UNLV.
Although the Waves are out of the team competition, the squad will send the doubles team of Silvia Kosakowski and Bianca Dulgheru to Tulsa for the doubles tournament.