By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
NorCal met SoCal when the No. 18 Waves took to the courts last Thursday to take on No. 10 University of California-Berkeley.
Playing against their stiffest competition of the new season, Pepperdine dropped the dual match 5-2, despite another outstanding effort from standout juniors Calle Hansen and Diego Acuna and the rest of the Pepperdine squad.
After coming out victorious in their doubles match 8-5, the two went on to win their No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches in impressive fashion.
But it wouldn’t be enough, as Pepperdine’s group of freshmen were unable to pick up the slack needed to claim victory.
The Golden Bears captured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, and then would clinch the match by winning four out of six singles matches.
According to Head Coach Adam Steinberg, the Waves’ inexperience among its seven underclassmen is still showing in their recent performances.
“I thought we played a very good, experienced team, and I think our lack of experience in our younger guys really showed,” Steinberg said. “They’re still a little unsure of themselves, but we’ll get better. What we need now is more matches, we need to play more.”
In singles play, Acuna soundly eliminated Balazs Veress by scores of 6-4, 6-3, while Hansen narrowly escaped with a win over Conor Niland, 3-6, 6-4 (10-8).
“Our two junior captains stepped up and played great,” Steinberg said.
This weekend, Pepperdine welcomes the University of Nevada Las Vegas Friday and the University of Pacific Saturday. Friday’s match begins at 1:30 p.m., and Saturday’s kicks off at noon.
Both players and coaches, regardless of the outcomes, said that they are just happy to keep competing.
“I’m really happy with the way things are developing,” Acuna said. “We are just going to get better.”
January 23, 2003