MALIBU, Calif. — BYU men’s tennis lost to No. 30 Pepperdine 4-2 at the Ralph-Straus Tennis Center Friday, snapping a seven-match win streak. It was the Cougars' first loss in West Coast Conference play after a 6-0 start.
"We're disappointed we didn't win, but we played hard and gave ourselves a chance by picking up the doubles point in beginning," said BYU head coach Dave Porter. "We just fell a little short. I need to do a better job of getting them ready to play on slower courts at sea level, but they fought hard, represented the university well, and I'm proud of them. We'll be ready to play Loyola Marymount tomorrow."
The Cougars opened the match taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. At the No. 1 spot, Jack Barnett and Ben Gajardo beat Adrian Oetzbach and Guy Den Ouden handily, 6-1. Sean Hill and Sam Tullis followed at the No. 2 spot with a 6-4 win over Tim Zeitvogel and Corrado Summaria.
In singles play, the Waves took a match at No. 2 singles to tie up the match at 1-1 before Hill defeated No. 113 Oetzbach 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles to give BYU a 2-1 lead.
That would be the Cougars only win in singles play as Pepperdine followed with three-straight singles wins at the No. 6, No. 4 and No. 3 spots, respectively, to clinch the match.
BYU will be back in action on Saturday, April 24, at 1 p.m. PDT, visiting Loyola Marymount at the LMU Tennis Center in the final match of the regular season.
MATCH RESULTS
BYU 2 Pepperdine 4
Doubles Competition
1. Jack Barnett/Ben Gajardo (BYU) def. Adrian Oetzbach/Guy Den Ouden (PEPP), 6-1
2. Sean Hill/Sam Tullis (BYU) def. Tim Zeitvogel/Corrado Summaria (PEPP), 6-4
3. Mateo Vereau Melendez/Matheus Ferreira Leite (BYU) vs. Pietro Fellin/Daniel DeJonge (PEPP), 4-5, uf.
Order of finish: (1, 2)
Singles Competition
1. Sean Hill (BYU) def. No. 113 Adrian Oetzbach (PEPP), 6-3, 6-2
2. Guy Den Ouden (PEPP) def. Jack Barnett (BYU), 6-4, 6-4
3. Daniel De Jonge (PEPP) def. Ben Gajardo (BYU), 6-3, 7-5
4. Tim Zeitvogel (PEPP) def. Sam Tullis (BYU), 6-2, 6-4
5. Mateo Vereau Melendez (BYU) vs. Corrado Summaria (PEPP), 6-7 (4), 2-4
6. Pietro Fellin (PEPP) def. Matheus Ferreira Leite (BYU), 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: (2, 1, 6, 4, 3)