University of Illinois
Pepperdine
Illini Fall at Pepperdine, 4-3
March 27, 2010 | Men's Tennis
March 27, 2010
Box Score
MALIBU, Calif. - The 11th-ranked Illini men's tennis team (10-7) dropped its second straight one-point decision Saturday afternoon in Malibu, Calif., falling 4-3 at West Coast Conference foe Pepperdine (7-9). Three Illini claimed wins on the day including No. 36 Dennis Nevolo, Connor Roth and No. 77 Abe Souza, who tied his career high with 23 singles wins this season.
"Pepperdine is a very good team, well-coached and they play with a lot of fire and intensity," head coach Brad Dancer said. "We've been out of sorts in doubles in a couple matches now, so we need to figure out what we have to do. There were some great battles in singles and great leadership as always today, but we need to be more consistent with our focus."
The Waves swept all three doubles matches to take the early advantage, but Souza struck first in singles to quickly tie the match at one apiece with a straight sets victory over Alex Lompart, 6-4, 6-4. With the match knotted at three, No. 40 Bassam Beidas held on to clinch the win for Pepperdine, edging No. 64 Marek Czerwinski in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The Illini return to Big Ten play next Saturday, April 3 at Purdue at 11 a.m. CT.
Match Results
#30 Pepperdine 4, #11 Illinois 3
Singles competition
1. #40 Bassam Beidas (PEP) def. #64 Marek Czerwinski (ILL) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
2. #36 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. #110 Sebastian Fanselow (PEP) 6-4, 6-3
3. #77 Abe Souza (ILL) def. Alex Llompart (PEP) 6-4, 6-4
4. Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEP) def. Johnny Hamui (ILL) 6-2, 6-4
5. Finn Tearney (PEP) def. Stephen Hoh (ILL) 6-4, 6-3
6. Connor Roth (ILL) def. Daniel Moss (PEP) 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
Doubles competition
1. #25 Bassam Beidas/Alex Llompart (PEP) def. #68 Stephen Hoh/Marek Czerwinski (ILL) 8-4
2. Hugh Clarke/Finn Tearney (PEP) def. #57 Dennis Nevolo/Johnny Hamui (ILL) 8-1
3. Sebastian Fanselow/Alejandro Moreno (PEP) def. Bruno Abdelnour/Abe Souza (ILL) 8-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,2,5,6,1)
