Pepperdine men’s tennis defeats Princeton 4-2 in final match
The Pepperdine men’s tennis team finished the three-day UTR Sports Collegiate Championships with a victory on March 16.
The Waves, ranked 28th nationally, beat the 26th-ranked Princeton Tigers 4-2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells.
Sophomore Edward Winter and freshmen Lasse Poertner and David Fix swung their rackets to singles wins for Pepperdine, and Aleska Pisaric, also a freshman, secured the victory for his team.
Princeton secured the doubles point thanks to Filippos Astreinidis and Paul Inchausp’s 7-6 (3) win over Edward Winter and Hugh Winter and Top Nidunjianzan and Ellis Short’s 6-3 victory over Linus Carlsson Halldin and Maxi Homberg.
The freshmen led the way for the Waves in singles play, though, as four won their first sets.
Winter, ranked 69th in singles, gained a lead over Inchauspe at the top line and won the first set 6-1. Winter had a 4-1 lead in the second set when Inchauspe retired because of an injury. That tied the match at 1-1.
The Tigers’ Nidunjianzan beat Homberg 6-0, 6-0 to put Princeton up 2-1.
Poertner then beat Ellis Short. The Wave won the first set 6-0. Poertner trailed 2-1 in the third game of the second set before he broke back in the fourth game to put the match back on serve. He then won four straight games before breaking for the 6-2 win.
Fix won the first set but lost the second set to Aleksandar Mitric. In the third set, the Pepperdine player had a double-break lead before breaking Mitric to garner a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win.
Pisaric lost the first set to Evan Wen but stormed back with powerful serves and athletic play to win the second set. The Waves player fell behind in the third set but fought off a break point to bring up deciding point.
Pisaric made his first serve and charged to the net to hit a backhand slice, hit the brakes, then backpedaled for an overhead winner. Pisaric won the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The Waves lost to Baylor 3-4 on the first day of the championships.
Pepperdine has a 10-6 record heading into their home match against Columbia on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Waves play at Santa Clara on March 30.
Pepperdine began their season with a loss to UC Irvine on Jan. 18. The squad downed UT Arlington a few days later before a loss to Mississippi State. The Waves then recorded wins over LSU, LMU, Texas A&M, and Arizona State. Pepperdine lost to Arizona and USC prior to beating UCLA and losing to TCU. Pepperdine beat Rice, Vanderbilt, and Middle Tennessee ahead of playing in Indian Wells.