WARRIORS TENNIS
UH men swept in first round of tennis
Hawaii's inaugural appearance in the NCAA men's tennis tournament was a brief one.
"Our Nos. 1, 2 and 3 players were right there. We've got everybody back and should only be better next season."
John Nelson / Hawaii coach
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The Rainbow Warriors (8-11) were swept by No. 13 Pepperdine 4-0 yesterday in a first-round match at the Ralph-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif.
The Waves (19-6), winning their 16th straight, face Stanford today for a berth in next week's NCAA tournament team finals in Tulsa, Okla.
"I'm awfully proud of our team," UH coach John Nelson said. "We played one of the top teams in the country and I honestly thought we had a chance.
"Our Nos. 1, 2 and 3 players were right there. We've got everybody back and should only be better next season."
Hawaii got off to a quick start in doubles, with No. 98 Sascha Heinemann-Andreas Weber leading 4-2 before falling to No. 24 Andre Begemann-Omar Beidas 8-5. Pepperdine took the doubles point at No. 3 when James Lemke-Mahmoud-Kamel defeated UH's Craig Faulk-Spence Mendoza 8-3.
Hawaii's Jeff Fitch-Dennis Lajola led for most of their doubles match but Bassam Beidas and Johannes de Villers rallied to tie it at 8-8. The match was not played out because Pepperdine had clinched the win when Brian Brogan beat Faulk, 6-0-6-2 at No. 6 singles.
"We had them on the ropes in doubles and we let up," Nelson said. "We starting missing our first serve and lost our aggression.
"Part of that's experience. If we had played smart and kept the pressure on, it would have been a different story."
Heinemann was leading his No. 2 singles contest with Bassam Beidas 6-4, 2-0 when the match was called. Weber also led the first set tiebreaker over Omar Altmann at No. 3 that was unfinished.