Tulane University
Pepperdine
Wave Men's Tennis Upend No. 28 Pepperdine
Mar 8, 2003 | Men's Tennis
March 8, 2003
MALIBU, Calif. - The Tulane men's tennis rebounded from a 7-0 loss at No. 6 Stanford to defeat No. 28 Pepperdine, 4-3, in a thrilling match on Friday evening at the Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center.
Despite dropping all three doubles matches, including the first loss of the season for Michael Kogan and Victor Romero, Tulane (7-4) rebounded to clinch the victory with strong singles play.
Jorge Lievano opened the scoring with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles and then Mattias Westerberg and Victor Romero also turned in victories. Needing one victory to wrap up the match, No. 5 singles player Hannu Piiroinen was upended, but the 17th-ranked Kogan pulled off a comeback win.
"Michael Kogan fought back from two breaks down in the third set and broke at 5-4 to even the third set," Tulane coach Robert Klein said. "This was a very gutsy performance from one of the nation's best players."
The Green Wave returns to action next weekend at the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala.
March 7, 2003
Taube Tennis Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
No. 6 Stanford 7, No. 29 Tulane 0
Doubles
1. #33 Acuna/Hansen (Pepperdine) def. #7 Kogan/Romero (Tulane): 9-7
2. Doerner/Rico (Pepperdine) def. Koch/Westerberg (Tulane): 8-5
3. Borzenski/Rafidison (Pepperdine) def. Patrizio Maucci/Piiroinen (Tulane): 8-6
Singles
1. #17 Michael Kogan (TU) def. #58 Calle Hansen (Pepperdine): 6-4, 3-6, 7-6.Br> 2. #96 Diego Acuna (Pepperdine) def. Dmitriy Koch (TU): 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
3. Victor Romero (TU) def. #89 Pedro Rico (Pepperdine): 7-6, 6-3
4. Mattias Westerberg (TU) def. Scott Doerner (Pepperdine): 7-6, 6-0
5. Alexi Rafidison (Pepperdine) def. Hannu Piiroinen (TU): 6-4, 7-6
6. Jorge Lievano (TU) def. Kevin Borzenski (Pepperdine): 6-4, 6-3
Records:
Tulane (7-4)
Pepperdine (8-7)
