April 20, 2008

No. 1 Pepperdine - 4
No. 3 Saint Mary's - 0

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - With a 4-0 win over Saint Mary's in the WCC finals on Sunday afternoon, the Pepperdine men's tennis team won its 39th WCC Championship. The Waves will bring home the WCC trophy for the 18th year in a row.

"Winning never gets old," said Pepperdine Head Tennis Coach Adam Steinberg who notched his sixth WCC Championship. "This was the best WCC final I've seen a Pepperdine team play since I've been coach."

The Waves set the tone early with two strong wins to secure the doubles point. No. 28 Andre Begemann (Blomberg, Germany) and Omar Altmann (Cairo, Egypt) recorded the first win on court No. 1 with an 8-1 victory over St. Mary's Joel Kusineirz and Lucas Tirelli. The No. 3 doubles team of James Lemke (Melbourne, Australia) and Mahmoud Kamel (Paris, France) defeated Marek Dvorak and Achim Christner (Saint Mary's), 8-1.

No. 32 Beidas established the first singles win, 6-2, 6-0, over Lucas Tirelli (Saint Mary's) on court No. 2. Altmann defeated Dvorak (Saint Mary's), 6-2, 6-1, to give Pepperdine a 3-0 lead.

"We went in with a lot of confidence," said Beidas "We didn't want to just win ... we wanted it to be a strong win."

Clinching the championship on the No.1 court was No. 9 Begemann, who handily defeated Kusnierz (Saint Mary's) 6-3, 6-3. Kusinierz had upset Begemann (April 12) in No.1 singles at the Pepperdine Saint Mary's dual.

Next up for the Waves is the first round of the NCAA Championships, on May 9-11, at a location to be determined.

Doubles Results
Begemann/Altmann def. Kusinierz/Tirelli, 8-2
Beidas/de Villiers vs. Dvorak/Kristner, 7-4 DNF
Lemke/ Kamel def. Zannoni/El Bouzkouri, 8-1

Singles Results
Andre Begemann def. Joel Kusnierz, 6-3, 6-3
Bassam Beidas def. Lucas Tirelli, 6-2, 6-0
Omar Altmann def. Marek Dvorak, 6-2, 6-1
Mahmoud Kamel vs. Achim Christner, 6-1, 4-3 DNF
Rickus de Villiers vs. Andrea Zannoni, 7-6, 3-3 DNF
Brian Brogan vs. Youseff El Bouzkouri, 6-2, 5-0, DNF
Match Notes: Doubles finish (1,3,2) Singles finish (2,3,1)

Santa Clara, CA - The 58th-ranked USD men's tennis team edged San Francisco today 4-3 to place 3rd at the 2008 West Coast Conference Championships. USD closes out their regular-season schedule with a record of 12-11. USD swept all three doubles matches to earn the all-important doubles point and that was the difference as both teams won three singles matches each. Dean Jackson at No. 2 singles, Tamer Antabi at No. 4 singles and Levon Brown at No. 6 singles were the Torero winners in the singles ladder; Jackson & Antabi were also winners in the doubles competition. Levon Brown won USD's decisive point with a 7-6 tie-breaker win in his third and final set. No. 1 seed Pepperdine beat No. 3 Saint Mary's 4-0 for the title.

Doubles
1. Jackson/Schive (USD) def. Cohen/Huttenberger (USF) 8-4
2. Liversage/Antabi (USD) def. Tu/Nachbauer (USF) 8-6
3. Wolmarans/Brown (USD) def. Del Rosario/Ching 7-6 DNF

Singles
1. Thong Tu (USF) def. Thomas Liversage (USD) 6-4, 6-4
2. Dean Jackson (USD) def. Rainer Nachbauer (USF) 6-2, 6-3
3. Asaf Cohen (USF) def. Charl Wolmarans (USD) 6-1, 2-0, ret.
4. Tamer Antabi (USD) def. Einar Hart (USF) 6-2, 6-1
5. Falko Huttenberger (USF) def. Nils Schive (USD) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6
6. Levon Brown (USD) def. Mitch Del Rosario (USF) 6-3, 6-7, 7-6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,1,4,2,5,6)

No. 5 LMU - 4
No. 6 Portland - 1

Santa Clara, Calif. - Fifth-seeded Loyola Marymount earned a 4-1 victory over sixth-seeded Portland Sunday in the consolation championship at the West Coast Conference Championships. The Lions earned the nod for fifth place in the WCC after winning the doubles point and three singles matches over the Pilots.

In doubles play, sophomores Renzo Maggi and Nick Von Der Ahe were first off the court with their 8-2 victory over Joel Kincaid and Bryan Thorp, followed by freshmen Johan Berhof and Ivan Lopez who defeated Portland's Evan Schleining and Renaldo Domoney at No. 2 doubles, 8-3 to give LMU a 1-0 lead. The match at No. 1 doubles between seniors Jacek Twarowski and Sam Tadevosian and Filip Zivkovic and Charlie Yemm was stopped with Twarowski and Tadevosian ahead, 6-4.

In singles action, the Pilots tied the match at 1-1 when Yemm defeated freshman Stefan Nikolic on court six, 6-2, 6-3. LMU bounced back with three wins at No. 4, 3, and 1 singles to take the match victory over the Pilots. At No. 4, Berhof beat Scheinling, 7-5, 6-2, Tadevosian defeated Portland's Dillon Pottish in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2 and Twarowski sealed the win for LMU with his win over Kincaid on court one 6-1, 7-5.

The Lions finish the 2007-08 season with an 11-13 record, placing fifth in the West Coast Conference.

Doubles
1. Twarowski/Tadevosian (LMU) def. Zivkovic/Yemm (POR) 6-4
2. Berhof/Lopez (LMU) 9-8 def. Schleining/Domoney (POR) 8-3
3. Maggi/Von Der Ahe (LMU) 8-5 def. Kincaid/Thorp 8-2

Singles
1. Jacek Twarowski (LMU) def. Joel Kincaid (POR) 6-1, 7-5
2. Filip Zivkovic (POR) def. Ivan Lopez (LMU) 7-5, 7-5 DNF
3. Sam Tadevosian (LMU) def. Dillon Pottish (POR) 6-3, 6-2
4. Johan Berhof (LMU) def. Evan Schleining (POR) 7-5, 6-2
5. Bryan Thorp (POR) def. Renzo Maggi (LMU) 7-5, 7-5 DNF
6. Charlie Yemm (POR) def. Stefan Nikolic (LMU) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (6, 4, 3, 1, 2, 5)

No. 7 Gonzaga - 4
No. 8 Santa Clara - 2

Santa Clara, Calif. - The Gonzaga University men's tennis team posted their highest finish at the West Coast Conference Championship since 2003 Sunday as the Bulldogs secured a seventh place finish with a 4-2 victory over Santa Clara University. The Zags finished the 2003 campaign tied for seventh, the last time Gonzaga finished seventh outright was in 2000.

Santa Clara earned the early doubles point, taking of three contests. The Bulldogs earned the first doubles victory as Conor Feeney and Cooper Fratt posted an 8-1 victory over Jay Wong and John Iwanski at No. 2. Santa Clara rallied to earn the point, taking victories at No. 1 and 3. Playing No. 2, Justin Wong and Kenzo Hirawaka-Wong posted an 8-4 win over Stefan Feddersen and Zack Radetzky, as Logan Napolsky and Roman Dojcak fell 9-8 at No. 3 to Charlie Burke and Senthil Chidambaram.

In singles play, Fratt knotted the score 1-1, with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at No. 5 over Wong, before Radetzky could post a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 4 over Burke to give the Zags a 2-1 edge. The Broncos' Hirakawa-Wong knotted the score at 2-2 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Docjcak at No. 2. The Bulldogs then rallied, taking victories at No. 6 and 3 to secure the win. At No. 6, Charles Adams defeated Iwanski 6-4, 6-1 as Feeney secured the victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Chidambaram at No. 3.

The Bulldogs finished the 2008 campaign with a 6-18 record.

Doubles
1. Wong/Hirakawa-Wong (SCU) def. Feddersen/Radetzky (GON) 8-4
2. Feeney/Fratt (GON) def. Wong/Iwanski (SCU) 8-1
3. Burke/Chidambaram (SCU) def. Napolsky/Dojcak (GON) 9-8

Singles
1. Stefan Feddersen (GON) vs. Jay Wong (SCU) 4-6, 5-2 DNF
2. Kenzo Hirakawa-Wong (SCU) def. Roman Dojcak (GON) 6-4, 6-2
3. Conor Feeney (GON) def. Senthil Chidambaram 6-2, 6-3
4. Zack Radetzky (GON) def. Charlie Burke (SCU) 6-2, 6-0
5. Cooper Fratt )GON) def. Justin Wong (SCU) 6-3, 6-0
6. Charles Adams (GON) def. John Iwanski (SCU) 6-4, 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,4,2,6,3,1)