Rice University
Pepperdine
Owls Can't Hold Off Surging Waves
3/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 27, 2009
The 33rd-ranked Rice men's tennis team saw an opportunity for a win at home over a top 20 team slip away, as the 18th-ranked Pepperdine Waves prevailed, 4-3 in a dual match at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on Friday afternoon.
The Owls appeared headed on their way to taking the doubles point, with leads in all three matches. But after Bruno Rosa and Isamu Tachibana closed out an 8-4 win in the No. 2 slot, the Waves outlasted the Owls to take 9-8 tie-breakers at both the No. 1 and No. 3 positions to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Rice then took a 2-1 lead thanks to straight-set wins by Isamu Tachibana and Dennis Polyakov at No. 5 and No. 6, only to see Pepperdine take wins at No. 2 and No. 3 to re-take the lead at 3-2. Freshman Sam Garforth-Bles pulled the match even by winning a tie-breaker in the second set to win at No. 4.
Rice's Bruno Rosa, ranked 46th in the last singles rankings battled it out on the stadium court with Pepperdine's 14th-ranked Bassam Beidas, with the Waves gaining the match victory thanks to Beidas win, 7-5, 6-4.
The Owls will be on the road next weekend for matches at Oklahoma and Tulsa. They return home for their final home match of the regular season on April 11 vs.SMU. . Tennis Match Results
Pepperdine vs Rice
3/27/2009 at Houston, Texas
(Jake Hess Tennis Stadium)
#18 Pepperdine 4, #33 Rice 3
Singles competition
1. #27 Bassam Beidas (PEPPER) def. #46 Bruno Rosa (RICE) 7-5, 6-4
2. #39 Omar Altmann (PEPPER) def. #42 Christoph Müller (RICE) 6-4, 7-5
3. Alex Llompart (PEPPER) def. Tobias Scheil (RICE) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1
4. Sam Garforth-Bles (RICE) def. Mahmoud Kamel (PEPPER) 6-2, 7-6
5. Isamu Tachibana (RICE) def. Alejandro Moreno (PEPPER) 6-1, 6-3
6. Dennis Polyakov (RICE) def. Jenson Turner (PEPPER) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. #14 Bassam Beidas/Omar Altmann (PEPPER) def. #47 Christoph Müller/Tobias Scheil (RICE) 9-8
2. Bruno Rosa/Isamu Tachibana (RICE) def. Mahmoud Kamel/Alejandro Moreno (PEPPER) 8-4
3. Stuart Keplar/Alex Llompart (PEPPER) def. Christian Saravia/Dennis Polyakov (RICE) 9-8
Match Notes:
Pepperdine 13-1; National ranking #18
Rice 13-7; National ranking #33
Players Mentioned
